Black Lagoon - War of the Fascists
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: The pirates of Roanapur are finding ships with their cargos removed, and their crews dead. The rip-off church is attacked with Hotel Moscow not far behind. All the first strikes in the War of the Fascists. (Unashamedly RockxRevy)
1. Chapter 1

Foreword - Well, here it is, my first multichapter Black Lagoon story. I've had this idea in my mind for a while since watching the episodes with the Neo-Nazi's since I felt so much more could have been done with them, but there's still time - assuming a new series comes along.

Anyway, please read and enjoy.

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War of the Fascists.

The man took a sip of coffee as he poured over the reports prepared for him by his subordinates and handed them to him in his office via mail. Unlike his predecessors, he didn't like the thought of advertising his connections openly and publicly and considering his previous allegiances, that was a sensible precaution. He would have done it anyway, especially considering the blunders the Aryan Socialist Union had made in the past; he had needed to reach out to some of his oldest contacts to open fresh new deals with the drug trades going on in various cities, something that made many in the ASU uncomfortable since many of the intermediaries were not the types of people the ASU considered 'pure' but it could not be helped. They needed funding and they needed it now.

That was one of the few things he had never truly worked out about Stanford and Ratchman, really; they were both really keen on saying they were going to do this and do that, and yet when it came down to it they didn't have a clue. In an office in the United States of America, a typically stereotypical office complete with a filing cabinet, a desk with several telephones on it, the new head of the Aryan Socialist Union was busily arranging all of the documents and the reports, some of which weren't even related to the Aryan Socialist Union. His life didn't revolve around the ASU, not by a long shot, and as long as the police and the feds didn't look too deeply, and they would if his long term plans gained the momentum they needed, he was safe.

He had always been a radical and he had moved from one radical organisation to the other, while he had been tempered by time on the rough streets of New York and Detroit and Chicago, to say nothing of LA.

But he was an educated man, and he quickly saw some of the flaws out there.

At first he had been a loyal member of the radical groups out there because he had wanted something to believe in - religion and other petty things didn't suit him, and there were more than a few out there, only he wasn't held down by the same fanaticism which had brought down many of the various groups out there, but over time and with one blunder after another where the leaders and various members of the organisations refused to look three dimensionally rather than the usual two dimensions they frequently viewed the United States with, he had become tired of their petty schemes and their views that in the long run didn't do much good anyway.

Sometimes he asked himself why on Earth he'd joined the ASU but the ASU was also all he could get.

Unfortunately, he had found an organisation that made him feel as if he had stepped back into the past into the days where Adolf Hitler and the likes of Himmler and Goebbels and Mussolini were running the show. The Aryan Socialists were so caught up trying to be dead ringers of Hitler, adopting the uniforms, the attitudes, and even the salutes of the Nazi party that he even wondered if they knew they were seen as a joke. To skinheads and other depraved bastards that followed the old fashioned illogical ideology of a dislike for the unlike, the ASU was as Nazi-ish as you were bound to get, but truthfully he thought it a mistake to copy so much from Hitler's Germany.

He shook his head, dwelling on the past was not important right now. He had a lot to do.

In front of him on the desk weighed down by documents and reports, and a cup of coffee and a box of tissues which acted like paper weights was a map of the Thailand area. There was a ring made with black ink, and if some passerby leaned in and peered at it, they would find themselves looking at the name of a place known as a shithole even to the residents.

Roanapur.

Ever since that disastrous mission for 'Lord' Alfred, who under the promise of financing and advertising the ASU to other fascistic movements through his connections accumulated during his time in the SS and over the years when the surviving Nazi's who'd either managed to slip through the cracks when Berlin fell after the war or had simply gone into hiding when they'd accepted the fact their precious Fuhrer had lost them the war had formed groups in the hopes of giving themselves some people to dominate and control, the ASU had been struggling to rebuild. Ratchmen had taken a small group of their organisation out to the wreck of an old U-boat to retrieve a painting, which had resulted in a lack of manpower.

The new leader had felt some suspicion for the job Alfred had hired them for, and at the time he'd been unsure why.

It might have been it had been simply too easy, find a boat with the right facilities - a submersible, diving equipment, and the means to find the wreck of a U-boat, and charter it before managing to overpower the crew with threats, though the sight of the ASU's Nazi styled uniforms may have contributed to that all too well and go down to the wreck while on the lookout for those who might be interested in plundering the wreck before some telecommunications firm moved in for some reason and retrieve a painting. All the boat's crew would need to do to stay alive would be to keep their heads down and not do anything remotely stupid to get themselves killed.

He had not gone with the party. The ASU wasn't a large organisation, but it was too big to go out there on a single boat to watch something like that. But he had insisted the boat be wired up with cameras and microphones so then the organisation in America could watch the 'momentous occasion' as he'd called it even if he'd been indifferent towards the mission when he found out what Ratchman planned to do. He couldn't believe it.

The Neo-Nazis were all alike, really; they talked and talked and talked about gaining power and restarting what Hitler and Mussolini had tried to do in the 40s, but the problem was it was the same stuff all over again; they wanted marches in streets, arms raised in salutes, experimentation on those considered inferior, businesses belonging to various enemies smashed and people intimidated, wars breaking out…. But the problem was they were too blind to see that their ideas and the way they should proceed had already been done, no government in their right might would ever allow another rise like that.

The graphic novel V for Vendetta may have revolved around a plot line where a similar fascistic regime took over England and ruled with an iron fist, but the only way that could have worked in his mind was if a different but similar set of circumstances occurred. It was just no good trying the same moves Hitler made. The only sane manner in which the ASU, and all other fascist groups for that matter, could move on was if they adapted to the modern world.

It hadn't been easy to arrange, either. The ASU had needed time to adjust after that disaster with the painting and with the simultaneous deaths of Stanford and Ratchman, to say nothing about the loss of a large number of personnel and the unhidden phone conversation between Ratchman and Alfred, seen from the footage taken from the cameras installed on the charted ship, rebuilding the ASU had been a long job, and he had needed to take things slowly to help the others get used to the changes he was putting into place. But the good news was there weren't that many in the chain of command, and since he had managed to claw and fight his way to a position directly below Ratchman and Stanford his control was more or less assured. The hardest parts had been to stop the organisation from going back to what they'd been doing before. He had needed to introduce new ways of thinking and doing things, and that had not been easy. Neo Nazi's did not like change though there were few to get in the way.

The good news he had was his plans were nearing fruition. The Union was getting more funding than it had in the past though he had needed to keep many of the members away from the intermediaries in case they acted without considering what it would do for them.

He looked down again at the map. Of all the places Alfred could have chosen to find a group of outsiders who could retrieve the painting, it had to be Roanapur. He had visited the city once or twice over the years and so he knew what it was like. Considering what Alfred wanted he had to admit it made sense to look at Roanapur since it was not that far away from the site of the U-boat's resting place, but after listening to the tapped phone call which he had listened to between Ratchman and Alfred who'd admitted he had hired the pirates of the Lagoon company to retrieve the painting to see if the ASU was capable of living up to Hitler's legacy, his admiration for the old Nazi's plan had simply grown even if he'd been annoyed at the thought of being used. But it had made sense to use a group from Roanapur. The people there were criminals, and they had been hardened by gang fighting, petty squabbles and the like, and pirates always got into fights with crews of the ships they raided.

In comparison, the Aryan Socialist Union's only combat experience revolved around playing computer games. Not a good combination. After he had watched how only two pirates from the Lagoon company had boarded the charted ship and slaughtered the Union detachment Ratchman had taken with him to recover the painting (Ratchman had wanted to oversee the mission himself, though truthfully he had a feeling the real motivation was a little more shallow..), the first thing he had done was show the rest of the Union what their 'glorious' organisation had failed to recognise; even if you had superior numbers and believed all that fancy bullshit about Aryan supremacy and how all other races were backwards, you should never underestimate them.

He had also gotten them to learn how to fight. He hadn't bothered showing them how to fight like an army on a battlefield, no he had shown them how to fight like guerrillas or gangs on the streets, and he had tried to make them think for themselves and how to improvise their skills rather than be dependent on a single person to tell them how to do things, and after seeing how that scantily dressed woman with the hard expression and those two guns which she had used with terrifying precision which came only with tens of hours of hard work and practice kill everyone on the ship, he had made sure they were motivated.

Many on that boat had made mistakes, despite the few that tried so hard to redeem themselves and fight back, but because of their lack of practice and common sense many of the detachment had problems with their weapons, either because they chose big ones they didn't know how to use or because they lacked practice.

When he had seen what Stanford had done…..

The Union had taken the painting in a surprise attack on the U-boat, flooding it and leaving the two pirates to drown only to fire on them as they swam up after the submersible and then was caught in a surprise attack when they'd been celebrating their 'victory' but they had been taken by surprise by their enemy, and the happy, drunken soldiers of the Aryan socialist union had been completely overwhelmed. Sure, some of the ASU detachment had managed to fight back, but they had been killed quickly and easily. Still, their deaths proved to the new leader of the ASU not everyone was hopeless.

Stanford, on the other hand…

What kind of idiot burst through a door and began ranting at one of the pirates, boasting at her, telling her who he was and what his rank and duty was? Why hadn't the blundering oath used the opportunity to shoot her? Half of the men who'd gone up against her had managed to shoot her, for fuck's sake he thought, remembering some of the footage he'd reviewed so then he could put it down into a training program for the ASU, and yet Stanford had spent two minutes boasting about his gun.

The man had seen the withering contempt on the woman's face (many of the ASU had been disgusted and disturbed by the fact the pirates who'd boarded the boat were not from good old caucasian stock, but truthfully the man didn't care; he didn't like black people and thought that people from Asian backgrounds were weird, but he didn't have the same blind prejudice the ASU had that dismissed everyone who didn't fit the mould, and besides he had met his fair share of sinister and dangerous characters in his life who hadn't been 'Aryan' so he wasn't bothered, besides he thought it was good motivation to get the others moving) before Stanford, stupidly and blissfully unaware of the fact she had unloaded one of her guns had loaded in a fresh new magazine into the weapon right in front of him, laughed in her face before he finally lifted the gun-

Only to be shot down by the woman, who'd told him in a straight and blunt manner that she wasn't bothered at all by what he'd spent the last couple minutes ranting about before she had shot him in the forehead. Examples like that were being used to train the ASU today, and so far many of them were showing good results, but the man had enjoyed shoving the phone call shared between the black man (Dutch, his intel had told him so far), Ratchman and 'Lord' Alfred down the throats of the organisation.

Alfred had been a senior member of the SS, and considering what he had done he was seen as a type of icon for reasons the new leader could barely work out, and yet he had set up a complex plan to find out if the ASU was even worthy of his time. The painting itself was useless although seeing Ratchman's clear and open awe that the painting had been supposedly drawn by Hitler himself made the man wonder if he realised how stupid that was; if Hitler had drawn a painting, surely he would have kept it close to him in Germany? Why would it be in another part of the world, miles away from the front lines of Europe?

It had made him laugh when Alfred himself admitted it was just a rumour, and that Hitler was incapable of painting anything too complex and could only draw paintings no gallery would take. It was strange that someone in an organisation reputedly devoted to Hitler (he blamed the movies for that one), considering him to be the closest thing to God they were ever going to get, was willing to basically say the ugly son of a bitch was bad at something. But what had really made him laugh was how Alfred had basically said the Aryan Socialist Union was nothing more than a joke, he had had the same thought occasionally, but for a senior Nazi to say it…. it had been taken quite hard.

The new leader of the Aryan Socialist Union wondered how Alfred, if he was still alive that was, would react when he saw what the ASU was going to do next…. The man always shrugged whenever the thought crossed his mind; the thought of some old Nazi who had had his time meant nothing, and if Alfred showed himself then the new leader would personally see to it one of the last members of the SS didn't live beyond that day.

Terror had worked for the Nazi's in the past, but now it would be the only weapon the ASU had left. One thing was for sure

The new leader didn't care for the old plans, his own was infinitely superior.


	2. Chapter 2

I hope you're enjoying my first multichapter Black Lagoon story. Please give me some feedback on how I'm doing.

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War of the Fascists.

Despite the recent upheaval with the Lovelace's and the USA, life went on for Roanapur, and if he were honest with himself Dutch preferred it that way, though he did feel sorry for Rock who'd tried to change things for the shithole that they worked and lived in. Dutch had few ideas of what would make Rock think he was doing anything that would change Roanapur on a massive scale, but rescuing someone like Roberta the Bloodhound…..

But while he could sympathise with Rock who had desperately tried to change things and make conditions in Roanpur better than they currently are, Dutch had no idea where Rock had gotten that idea, and when the younger man had acted like a cross between a ringmaster at a circus and a guy who was stoned up to his scalp and was on high, the rest of the Lagoon company had been unnerved by the changes in Rock's personality.

Dutch knew Chang wasn't a big fan of Rock; he was more polite about it than others, but it was there. The Chinese boss saw Rock as a hypocrite who saw the bad side of life every day, but tried to change it for good even if it was futile. Dutch knew Chang had used Rock because of his intelligence, but also his compassion. He wished the Chinese boss had kept his nose out of it, he hadn't wanted Rock or his company to be dragged into a conflict with the USA.

But Rock had changed a great deal, Dutch admitted to himself as he glanced out of the windshield in front of him to gaze at Rock's thin frame.

The former Japanese businessman had come a long way since he'd been essentially kidnapped by Revy who had wanted a ransom out of him, though Rock had no idea where Revy had gotten the idea they could ransom someone just like that, though it hadn't worked as well as Revy had thought, but looking back Dutch could see the first signs of Rock getting used to his new surroundings had been when they'd been corned by that helicopter and he'd come up with the insane plan to destroy it.

Dutch regarded Rock sadly, though he'd never admit it to anyone, hoping Rock would get out of his funk and use what happened with Roberta as proof positive Chang would never have allowed Roanapur could change, it seemed as if Rock was slowly coming to terms with the idea. It had been a month since that mess with Roberta, but Rock was getting back to his normal self.

Dutch only wished he could say the same thing about Revy.

He wasn't stupid. He knew Revy had feelings for Rock even if they were two completely different people and had different backgrounds, and since their first meeting where Revy was both awkward and hostile to him, it had cooled down and thanks to Rock there was a lot less screaming as Revy went off into one of her berserker mood swings. Dutch and Benny had both been happy for that since it had meant they could actually enjoy their work without feeling they were treading on eggshells, but now things seemed to have returned to the early days where Rock and Revy had only just met, though things had turned to shit on the Mekong when Revy had beat Rock up.

Dutch had overheard what Rock had said to her, how his plans would change things in Roanapur.

He was wasting his time.

Neither Chang or the other mob bosses would let something like that change Roanapur, they were more likely to keep it buried while taking advantage of something they felt they could use.

But Dutch had decided to let the pair of them handle it though he was prepared to step in if Revy took things too far.

"How soon before we're at the ship, Benny?" he called through to the radio/computer room Benny had commandeered for his equipment.

"Another 20 minutes, Dutch," Benny replied as he checked.

Dutch grunted. Not for the first time he was glad Miss Balalaika was one of their more prolific customers since her growing empire brought in new jobs frequently though the Lagoon company he'd set up, he was even more pleased that their recent work didn't include that many gunfights.

Strangely enough, Roanapur had been quiet despite the stir caused by the Lovelaces; Roberta's earlier attack on The Yellow Flag had spread throughout the city, so any mention of her or some woman in a maid's uniform was usually met with fear and hatred.

But the quiet worried Dutch. Roanapur was not a quiet city, but aside from the usual and typical gang related messes, things had been quiet for the Lagoon company recently and Dutch was hoping to keep it that way, but he was not naive enough to think it was going to last forever.

He stiffened when he felt someone stand by his side, and he turned his head and found Revy looming over him, arms folded with a scowl on her face which didn't bode well.

"Are we there yet?" Revy asked in her 'couldn't give a fuck but let's get it over with' voice.

"We'll be there soon," Dutch replied.

Another reason why Dutch was unsettled by the peace and quiet in Roanapur was that with Revy in this mood she was both unbearable to be around and she became surlier and more irritable. He didn't break the silence - he didn't have anything he wanted to ask or say to Revy though he had no problems with taking her aside and making her see sense if she went off like she did when he'd stopped her killing those unarmed and hopeless crewmen on that boat with the Neo-Nazi's; it hadn't been their fault they'd been chartered by those fucks, though he could see Revy had good reason to shoot them.

Dutch knew that the main reason for Revy's bad mood was down to Rock.

It was an open secret Revy had a thing for Rock even if the pair of them, from an outsider's point of view, were from two completely different worlds and had different mindsets; Revy was a survivor who had been brutalised at an early age (it had not been cool getting that from Revy, her closed off nature had made it nearly impossible for him to get some insights into why she behaved the way she did), let down by virtually everyone around her with no-one to turn too, so was it any wonder why she had murdered her abusive father.

Personally, Dutch saw it as justice, though he knew the NYPD would see it differently. They only saw a one-dimensional view of what had happened to Revy, and since some of them had been involved she would more than likely be punished, seen as the criminal than a victim getting justice. In Dutch's mind, those who got justice for something like rape or the murder of a loved one, were those who deserved to be left alone.

In contrast, Rock hadn't experienced much hardship unless you could consider being kicked around an office hardship. Rock had lived a fairly normal life without worrying about where the money was coming in. He had no criminal connections in Tokyo, and he had never once thought of joining a gang, never mind the Yakuza. Rock had had an education, similar to Balalaika and Chang, and he was smart. He was, after all, the one who had come up with that plan to deal with that cowboy in the helicopter shortly after they'd kidnapped him, and despite his panicky manner, Dutch had genuinely liked the man from the start.

Rock and Revy hadn't really hit it off straight away, though she had found a soft spot for him quickly though it had nearly fallen to pieces after the U-Boat mess, but to this day Dutch had little idea what Rock had said to Revy to get her out of her hostile/aggressive/irritable/surly/unresponsive mood she had been in since meeting those Nazi fucks.

After that their relationship had improved - while she said otherwise, it was clear Revy DID care for Rock, and she was upset whenever he was upset and happy when he was happy.

Even better, Revy seemed to be realising life didn't have to be what she thought it was, and that with Rock around she could be a different person because, although she didn't like it, Rock represented normalcy.

But this mess with Roberta seemed to have set back that progress and Dutch had no idea what Revy and Rock were going to do next. He wasn't going to get involved.

Revy grunted and went silent. Dutch hid the urge to sigh and he waited for the journey to end.

The silence was oppressive but as the Lagoon cruised towards it destination, Dutch had time to think about the job they'd been hired to do - Revy was more than okay with calling Balalaika a 'fry, faced bitch' but she wasn't stupid enough to say it to her face - and nothing could've been simpler in his mind. Going out and picking things up was a dull, boring and monotonous job, but if it put food on the table then Dutch would do it. Besides after Rock's little crusade, the Lagoon company could do with a few quiet chores to take care of.

But as they became closer he could see a black dot on the horizon. It was the ship they'd been hired to rendezvous with and pick up a cargo.

Dutch could hear Benny through the door trying to raise the ship, but even from where he was Dutch knew he wasn't having much luck.

"Dutch, I'm not getting anything from that ship," Benny yelled.

"Maybe they're trying to be anonymous," Dutch replied as he tried to remain optimistic, though he wasn't having much luck; he knew the captain of the ship they were heading for. He was one of those captains who was used most often by the major criminals in these waters because he was trustworthy, punctual and he always responded when he could. If there was a problem, he would find a way to contact whoever was approaching him on a job.

"Dutch, we know the captain of this ship," Benny unintentionally and unknowingly killed Dutch's hope this could be resolved rationally and simply. "He should have contacted us with smoke signals by now if something was wrong with his radio."

"I know that Benny-boy," Dutch growled as a bad feeling came over him. It may have been nothing, but until he'd gotten a good look at the ship that bad feeling would stay like an upset stomach. "I'm taking us closer. I'm gonna have a look through the binoculars."

Usually, he wouldn't be doing this but since he knew most of the captains who smuggled the goods into Roanapur, and knew this one's almost paranoid caution well, so he was doing it.

After halting the Lagoon, Dutch grabbed the binoculars and went up on deck to the crow's nest, and he peered through the lenses squinting slightly while spent a moment focusing through the lenses.

Dutch stared through the binoculars for two minutes, scanning the deck and the bridge but he couldn't see anything or anyone. He lowered the binoculars and his concern increased before he went back down.

Once he was seated at the controls, Dutch resumed the course towards the freighter carefully. "Revy," he growled into his radio, "better get your guns ready, just in case."

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Unknown to the Lagoon company, they were not alone but they were not on the freighter. There was another ship nearby, in the shadow of the freighter, with a small periscope breaking the surface.

In the control room of the submarine, the Captain was watching the boat approaching the freighter. From the intelligence reports made over the past few months of the various pirates and smugglers of that black hole of unworthiness which was Roanapur, that boat belonged to the Lagoon company. The Captain ground his teeth.

The new Leader's orders concerning the Roanapur plan were simple - try to destroy the Lagoon company through the Leader had made it clear, very clear it didn't make any difference to their long-term plans if the Lagoon company lived or died later, but until they were ready to act no-one from Roanapur was to be killed.

The Captain wished he could disobey the order. Many of the union had been killed by the two pirates of the Lagoon company, and as if their skin tones and ethnicities weren't bad enough they had wiped out the entire force. It would be so easy, he thought to himself as the boat approached the freighter. Just surface their ship, break out the machine guns and hope the machine guns killed the lot, but the Captain held back. It would take too long to prepare the crew, and as soon as the submarine surfaced they would need two minutes before they could crack the hatches and go out firing.

The Lagoon company were hardened criminals, his men wouldn't stand a chance; the Leader's work in making them better fights had paid off but there was still a lot of work. The Captain, himself a long-term ASU member, had not even realised just how crude and inadequate their training actually was, but he genuinely enjoyed what the new Leader had brought in. And the Captain had also come to see that their organisation had had some really stupid leaders.

Ratchman had not bothered to order training beyond the basics, and he had paid for that mistake with his life. The new Leader's plan was different and they would make a difference once and for all. He just….wished he could put that training to good use, but he couldn't.

Their orders were simple - don't do anything until the Leader was ready.

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The moment Revy boarded the ship she could see why Dutch hadn't seen anyone on the deck, because beneath the handrail on the deck most of the crew were dead. Revy silently walked over to one of the nearer corpses and took a look, noting the number of bullet holes in the man's chest. From the look of it this man was shot by a machine gun, at close range.

Revy's eyes narrowed as the implication became clear in her mind, but she checked on another body. This one only had two bullet holes in his body, likely coming from a handgun like her prized pistols. She looked over her shoulder when she realised Rock wasn't making one of his exclamations of horror or of pity, but when she looked around her shoulder she saw the former Japanese businessman walking away to check on the containers on the deck. For a moment Revy was surprised by Rock's apparent indifference to the dead bodies lying around, but she saw that many of the containers were open.

She stood up and went over to the containers after Rock, thinking it was ironic in a grisly, heartbreaking way; when she had first met him, Rock had always been appalled by the seemingly never-ending pile of dead bodies that seemed to appear around every corner whereas she was always indifferent about it, but now she was the one horrified whereas Rock was indifferent. But her horror had nothing to do with the bodies. Revy had seen many dead bodies in her time, some of them killed by herself.

She was horrified that Rock didn't seem to care, but when she saw the haunted look in Rock's expression she could see that he was bothered. Her heart still ached because Rock had worn his feelings on his sleeve, and it was hard for her to see that it was almost gone. That was what she had always feared - Roanapur had gotten to Rock, something she had tried to stop though she had known it was hopeless.

Dutch's shadow fell over the pair of them. He looked past Rock and Revy and into the container. "The cargo's gone," he announced before he looked around the deck with a weary sigh. "I've seen half of the ship, and all of the crew are like this."

"No survivors?"

"None," Dutch confirmed. "I checked the Bridge, no-one's alive up there, but I want the pair of you to check the rest of the ship to look for clues; someone's boarded this ship and taken the cargo, I wanna know who in case we meet 'em again."

Revy nodded and took out her guns - she doubted she would need them, but she had come across too many instances where she and Dutch had fought over a cargo with rival pirates, or their merchandise had been stolen before they could reach it themselves - and besides, she wanted to protect Rock. She just wasn't going to admit it.

Together Rock and Revy moved slowly and cautiously through the ship. There was an eerie, haunted feeling to the ship. It was so silent, and without the usual thrum of the engines, it was even more ominous. From some far off place, Revy could hear the steady drip-drip sound of water while she and Rock walked through the ship.

The duo came across a staircase, and they went deeper. When they found a cabin, Rock opened the door. "Revy, you'd better look at this," he said.

Revy walked to the doorway. The cabin's light was on, but the blinds over the portholes were closed. The cabin was very spartan, though Rock and Revy had not really expected anything different. There were a few bunks cramped into the cabin. The natural light mixed with the lightbulb light, making it bright.

Draped over two of the bunks were two of the crew who looked like they had been trying to get out of their bunks at the time but had failed. Rock didn't need to go over to the bodies to examine them. He had seen too much death, and he could probably see the story of what had happened very clearly.

He glanced at Revy. She looked dispassionately at the bodies, like himself she had seen too much death though she was even more hardened to it than he was.

"C'mon Revy, let's go," he whispered.

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"Did you find any clues to what happened?" Dutch said.

Revy was lighting up a cigarette. "No," she replied. "We found some of the crew in their cabins, they'd been killed there. Same in the engine room. Whoever boarded this ship took 'em by surprise.

Dutch nodded grimly, he had come to the same conclusion. "Yeah," he growled, "I checked the log, they arrived here late at night and they dropped anchor. The freighter always dropped its cargo off in places off the shipping lanes so it could be collected by either us or by another company of pirates from Roanapur. They always slipped in and out of the shipping lanes to do it, so no one got suspicious."

Dutch looked around the deck to the horizon, lost in thought for a moment before he shrugged. "C'mon, we're gonna go back to the ship, and leave," he said, "there's nuthin' we can do 'ere. Besides, I've gotta call Balalaika; she's not going to like this."

Revy made a face as the acrid smoke from the cigarette rose into the air at the mention of the scarred former Russian soldier who was treated like royalty by her own men, but she knew better than to say anything stupid about her.

When they were back on the Lagoon, Dutch sat at the controls and guided the boat away from the freighter before he put the call through to Balalaika.

"Hello, Dutch, social call?" Balalaika's voice purred over to the phone.

"No, just business," Dutch replied.

"Did you get my cargo?"

"No, the cargo containers were empty when we got there, the crew were all dead, some of them in their own bunks," Dutch explained deciding to get it all out so then he wouldn't be expecting an execution squad when they got back to Roanapur.

Balalaika went silent for a while on the phone, the only sounds Dutch could hear from her was her gentle, raspy breathing.

"This is the seventh time I've heard something like this," she commented at last.

Dutch stiffened. "What?"

"Other pirates and smugglers have been reporting their jobs are failed because the ships and boats they've met have dead crews on them," Balalaika replied darkly, "they go out on their job, and they find the boats or ships, and they find the crews dead and the cargo was gone."

"How long as this been going on for?" Dutch asked.

"The first reports came in last night, Dutch, and I can tell you it's becoming a headache we could've done without. You know how much Roanapur relies on piracy and smuggling to keep it going. With that in mind, some of the more belligerent crime bosses believe someone outside Roanapur - the US army, for one, are responsible and they want to bring down our trade."

Dutch could both understand and believe that and yet he could also disbelieve it. But it didn't fit. The US army and navy knew about Ronaapur's economy, so they knew what weaknesses they could exploit to bring down the shithole. But this wasn't their style.

"I don't think it was the US," Dutch brought his doubts into the open, "they can do it, but they're more likely to keep their eyes and ears open so our usual pickups wouldn't work. They wouldn't send commandos or seals on ships to murder the crews, they'd arrest the crews when they had the proof of what they were doing."

"I know that, so does Chang. But unfortunately, the rest of the crime bosses in Roanapur are making plans and threatening moves."

"Fuck, who do they think they're gonna fight?" Dutch asked before the penny dropped. "Some of 'em are probably going to use this as an excuse to start a war, something we don't need."

"No," the Russian crime boss confirmed grimly. "Chang and I are trying to maintain the peace, but you know how it is here. What are you doing now?"

"Headin' back," Dutch replied hoping he wasn't going to be lumbered with anything else.

"Fair enough. I don't guarantee there will be a city when you return, but Chang and I will do our best to make sure a war doesn't start," Balalaika said before she put the phone down on her end without saying goodbye.

Dutch leaned back in his chair, not really eager to return to Roanapur. It would take hours for them to return and in that time anything could have happened. Dutch didn't care about Roanapur, but it was the perfect environment if you wanted to have a nice little criminal empire.

What he couldn't understand was how all of this mess was happening in such a short amount of time, and he wondered if Balalaika had been lying or bending the truth a little bit about the when this started, but he doubted it. Balalaika wasn't the type, she was one of the more direct though she was a manipulator when the situation called for it, and he couldn't see a reason for her to lie.

He was also concerned with what the state of Roanapur was going to be like when the Lagoon returned to the dock.

Would a gang war have broken out, or would it still be peaceful, well as peaceful as a city like Roanapur could be?

As he thought about the stupidity some of the other crime figures in the city were showing by instantly blaming someone else on the outside, Dutch wondered what kind of spark would ignite the fire. He believed they were right, that outsiders had done something to the ships, but he was sure it was just another gang of pirates.

What else could it be?

The idea a government would go to the kind of lengths just to destroy Roanapur… if they were behind something like this, sending an army into the city and bring the city out of the shit and into a different kind of shit, they would have done it already but they hadn't.

00000000000000000000000000000

On the submarine, the captain was sending a priority one call to the someone in the union who would later relay it to the Leader. "The Lagoon company have just left, 20 minutes ago," he was reporting, "they boarded the freighter and they must have found the corpses and the empty containers."

"The same thing is being reported in other parts of the ocean near your location," the voice on the other end replied. "Soon our glorious mission will truly begin."

00000000000000000000000000000

Arriving back at Roanapur, Dutch had Benny pipe in the latest. Rock and Revy hadn't known what to think about the news other pirates and smugglers of Roanapur had encountered the ships they'd been hired to meet, and the crews were killed already with the cargo seized.

Grimly they overheard the overlapping chatter. Some of it was typical for Roanapur; some of the pirates were blaming the more powerful groups, but the ones they were accusing protested their innocence and some claimed they'd set out themselves and came back empty-handed from their jobs, and they also heard the accusations but one stood out.

"It was the US army who did this!" an indignant voice on the other end of the line said, drowning out the rest of the chatter though they could still be heard, "they're going to bleed us dry! Well, fuck that!"

"Okay, Benny, turn it off," Dutch growled, pleased that his military training helped him to hide his annoyance at how stupid the rest of the pirates of Roanapur were behaving.

"What do you think?" Rock asked hesitantly.

"It wasn't the US," Dutch replied. "They wouldn't murder the crews of the ships or boats. Oh, they could do it, but they wouldn't. They have an image to maintain."

"Yeah," Revy groused, "as a nation of control freaks who go around forcing the world to be like 'em."

"Fair point," Dutch said lowly, not really offended despite being American himself. "I dunno who it was, guys. But whoever it was they don't see anything wrong with destroying our trade. That's bad for business."

"Some new gang of pirates from somewhere else?" Benny came out of the computer room, looking questioningly at Dutch.

"A few who chattered on the radio said the same," Revy pointed out, "but they were victims themselves."

"What if it's a new group from outside Roanapur?" Rock asked, following the debate to a more logical conclusion. "It makes sense - the ships and the boats were found outside Roanapur, really far out. Wouldn't it make sense for this new group to operate out of reach of people like Balalaika and Chang?" he finished, though no-one could mistake the slight disgust in his voice as he said the last name.

Dutch thought it through before he shrugged. "It's too early to make guesses," he said at last. "C'mon, we're almost back at the dock."

* * *

Until next time.


	3. Chapter 3

To the reviewer who made that point about fascists and socialists, so what? 'Fascist' is better than socialist. More punchier.

* * *

War of the Fascists.

Rock panted as he rushed up the stairs to Revy's 'apartment' the next morning. He and the rest of the 'gang' had spent most of the night at the Yellow Flag. They went because Dutch wanted to make up for a failed job, though it was not his fault but also so he could get an insight into what was going on next and make a plan from that, though Rock doubted he'd do anything. After that mess with the Lovelaces and the USA, Rock doubted Dutch was in a hurry to get involved with anything that wasn't his business.

Truthfully Rock felt the same way. He was still nursing some resentment as to how his efforts to make Roanapur a better place had failed, now he was in no mood to hurry.

At least that had been the plan from last night, but it seemed others didn't really care for the plans of the Lagoon company.

He had to get to Revy quickly; just because things were not going well between him and the beautiful if lethal girl didn't mean he couldn't get through to her, but he didn't know how she'd react when she found out what had happened. Rock had been horrified by the news when Dutch had urgently called him and told him to get Revy off her ass and get to her to the hospital, NOW.

When he reached the door to Revy's apartment, Rock steeled himself and just opened the door without knocking; usually, he would have knocked to let the woman know he was there so she wouldn't get startled and fire her guns at him, but now was not the time. He knew he was pushing the buttons, but he hoped Revy was in a good enough mood today. If she wasn't then he hoped that his reflexes would be enough to stop him being shot-

The moment he burst into the room of Revy's dingy little apartment - the place was still as filthy as it was whenever he visited - he was relieved to see her on the bed and as he crossed the room quickly to get to her, he was even more delighted to see she had her earphones in, probably listening to one of her favourite tracks.

Despite the seriousness of what had happened and the urgency of Dutch's demand to get her to the hospital where the rest of the Lagoon company were meeting after something big, Rock couldn't stop himself from looking at Revy's face and thinking that she was so beautiful…..

He quickly shook himself out of those thoughts. This was not the time, and besides, why would Revy want anything to do with him? He wasn't anything like her, they came from totally different backgrounds and followed different philosophies.

"Revy," he said urgently as he shook her hand but as gently as he could, "wake up! Revy!"

Revy groaned in her sleep.

Wincing at the potential outcome, Rock whipped off the earphones. "Revy," he said loudly.

Revy shifted in her sleep. "Fuck off," he heard her mutter.

"Revy, you've got to get up," Rock said urgently, "Dutch told me to get you out of bed. Revy, the Rip-Off Church, the Triads, and Hotel Moscow have been attacked. Badly. Balalaika, Chang, and Eda want us to meet them at the hospital. Now!"

The constant shaking was quickly rousing Revy out of her alcohol-induced sleep, but it was the mention of what had happened to some of the biggest players of the city's criminal politics that really got her awake. "Rock? Did you say what I think you said?" she whispered, gazing at him blearily.

"Yeah. I don't know the details, so don't ask. All I know are the basics. Dutch says that Balalaika's found something out about the attackers, but she didn't want to discuss it over a phone line, she wants to meet with us at the hospital."

Revy groaned as she pulled herself up into a sitting position, wincing at the sudden aches in her head. By now she'd managed to process what Rock had been telling her, but her head was still aching from the hangover. "Someone attacked the Triads, the Rip-Off Church, and Hotel Moscow?"

"Yeah. Dutch told me urgently to get over here and tell you."

Revy was silent, seeing that Rock was just the messenger and he didn't have any other information to tell her. For a moment she was tempted to simply discount the attacks. Gang warfare was nothing unusual in Roanapur, but with a bit more thought Revy thought it unlikely something like that had happened now if Dutch had told Rock to hurry over to her place and drag her to the hospital, but how were the Rip-Off Church involved?

The Rip-Off Church had alliances with many of the gangs, and they all knew that under Sister Yolanda's leadership the Church was strictly neutral and they didn't really care who was the more dominant gang in the city, and since the Church was responsible for some of the deals and the smuggling ops in and out of the city, they held quite a lot of influence and power but they didn't use that power to muscle in on anyone, so they were more or less left to their own devices.

Revy decided she would worry about that later and ask that question when she arrived at the hospital. Although she wouldn't admit it to anyone besides Rock and Dutch, Revy was concerned about Eda's wellbeing.

"Is there time for me to have a quick shower?" she asked Rock.

"Make it a quick one," Rock said, knowing that they didn't really have a lot of time, but since it had taken him a while to get to Revy's place it shouldn't make any difference.

Revy got out of her bed and went to the bathroom, calling over her shoulder, "Do you mind putting some bread into the toaster? I got me a fresh one yesterday, it should still be good."

Rock nodded and headed for the toaster while she headed for the shower. Revy didn't even flinch as the water hit her, it was stone cold. She had never had hot water showers in Roanapur, but she was used to them by now. After quickly applying her shower wash, Revy slowly rubbed it into her skin and soon washed it off.

Once she was finished she towelled herself dry and headed out to get dressed. Rock averted her eyes, but she caught his interest, but she ignored it since this was not the time. She accepted the toast he handed to her, and she bit into it, mentally delighted by the presence of the margarine she used, and she realised that Rock really did notice her diet.

When the pair of them left the apartment, both eating toast to the car, Revy stiffened noticeably when she looked at the people on the street, making Rock stop and look at her in confusion.

"What is it?" he asked.

"They know already that something big has happened," she said before shrugging her shoulders and getting into the car. Rock looked at the people walking up and down the streets, concerned only for themselves, but he had been in Roanapur long enough to get an idea of how they viewed the world.

Revy was right. They all seemed nervous and worried, but there was nothing he could really do about any of this, and he got into the car and silently drove the car to the hospital. When the car arrived at the hospital, they got out and they quickly met Dutch, before they met Balalaika and Mr Chang.

Revy's eyes scanned the two mob bosses and saw that despite their usual outfits, both of them were very tired. Mr Chang looked the same, dressed in his familiar black suit, with the dark sunglasses that hid his eyes, but his hair was messed up and his suit was crinkled as though it had just been dragged out of the wash.

Balalaika was smoking a cigarette like it was the only thing keeping her awake and upright. Her face showed shows clearly tired and on the verge of passing out, but was somehow clinging on. Revy envied her that, but it was the person standing in a corner that scared her. She was used to Eda being a smart-ass, always irritatingly cheerful, even when it was inappropriate.

But the person in the room was asleep, her trademark pink sunglasses still somehow perched on her nose. In her lap lay her handgun, the black finish gleaming dully in the already dim lighting of the room.

Balalaika eyed her and Rock as they walked in, somehow the light of the cigarette she was smoking as she drew a drag on it creating more smoke made her burnt features appear more ghoulish.

"What do you know about the Aryan Socialist Union?" she asked in her usual cool, professional manner; Rock was happy that she was speaking in that tone compared to her other tone where she was harsher and more dangerous than even Revy.

Dutch stiffened and spoke before Revy could speak. "They're a bunch of Nazis, but they dress like the fucks from World War Two but they're a joke. A real Nazi hired us out anonymously to do a job, he wanted us to salvage a painting from an old sunken U-Boat. The painting was rumoured to've been painted by Adolf Hitler himself, but the Nazi refuted that. The Nazi also commissioned this bunch of Neo-Nazi's, the Aryan Socialist Union, to test 'em to see if they're worth investing in for the future. They hired a boat out complete with diving gear and a mini-sub, and they managed to get the painting off of Revy and Rock."

Rock winced when he heard Revy gnash her teeth at the memory.

"We chased 'em 'cross the ocean, boarded their boat, killed 'em. They were partying and were half drunk, but some of 'em were sober enough to fight back. But they were still pathetic," Dutch went on knowing that if he let Revy speak, they'd get an earful about them, and he wanted to get to the crux of this little meeting. "A few of them were good enough fighters, but they weren't experienced with fighting."

Revy snorted. "Ain't that the truth? The same Nazi fuck that came down to the U-boat and grabbed the painting was in the armoury on the boat, he was busy loading a belt-fed machine gun, couldn't see the type and I didn't care either, and I shot him. Another Nazi kept boasting 'bout his gun like he had a hard-on 'bout the fucking thing; who in their right mind sells you a gun when you've got someone near ya? Anyway, I reloaded my guns in front of him, and I shot him in the chest before I shot him in the head."

"Why are you asking about the Aryan Socialist Union, anyway?" Rock asked, getting tired of the story Revy was getting too.

Balalaika speared him with a look, took a drag and blew out the smoke from her cigarette. "It was them who attacked us last night," she stated.

"What?"

The former Russian soldier nodded gravely. "We captured a few of them last night, and with the help of a certain cleaner we found out what we needed to know…."

 _Balalaika looked at the three men caught last night. They were manacled by their wrists and their ankles, glaring arrogantly at their captors. She wasn't bothered by their attitude, it wouldn't make any difference either way soon. Ignoring them she walked over to the crate her men had set up as a crude table to show her what they'd been carrying._

 _She had to admit that they were audacious in launching an attack against her headquarters and a few other of her holdings, but while the reports on their fighting ability were contradictory, Balalaika was relieved her men were only injured, not killed. That didn't surprise her that much - she had fought against them herself and had found they fought on a level lower than her former unit._

 _But some of her other men who had also been attacked by them had come out with differing reports, but she didn't care after receiving them though she had made sure to order her men who were out there, protecting the assets of Hotel Moscow, were informed to fight hard against whoever was stupid enough to attack._

 _In the meantime, she was here to get some answers, and she was going to get them, and she had hired an expert to help get those answers. But for now, she was going to try the less painful method to help her._

 _She walked slowly towards them and stopped as soon as she was within kicking distance - just because she had hired someone to make the interrogation as unpleasant and as painful as possible didn't mean she couldn't have fun herself - and folded her arms while her Sergeant stood behind her at a respectable distance to make sure they knew she was not alone._

" _You've given me a lot of trouble tonight," she said clearly but softly so she could keep her emotions under control, "I'm going to give you this opportunity to tell me who you are working for."_

 _Balalaika was not surprised when her offer was refused. She was, however, annoyed when one of the men welled up enough saliva in his mouth to spit out a massive, wet globule of spit that splashed against her face. She felt rather than saw one of her soldiers step menacingly towards the culprit, but she held up her hand; what these men would go through soon with the Cleaner would make whatever thing her men did to them, no matter how creative her former soldiers could be, insignificant._

" _As if we'd talk, you filthy communist bitch!" The man sneered at her, and Balalaika wondered if he would still be as defiant when the Cleaner was finished with him._

" _You don't understand, do you? You are in no position to be defiant. My men are all around and soon you'll be in a world of hurt, so why refuse to talk?"_

 _She knew why they wouldn't talk, of course. It came down to pride. The trouble was these men had probably never heard of the expression "pride goeth before a fall," so they would probably not speak, but she was annoyed they didn't seem to realise their threats of retribution and their arrogant belief in their superiority meant nothing here._

 _Balalaika had come across enough Neo-Nazi's over the years, so she recognised them and their attitudes for what they were. It was a dead giveaway that they were Nazi's, but she wanted more information from them and fast. She wanted to know what they'd hoped to gain by attacking her men and her assets in such a manner, but she'd known getting the information would be messy. Besides while her men were creative, she didn't want to waste so much time when the city was going to hell (ironic since Roanapur was a place where you were unlikely to get any kind of peace), and they would be concentrating on one man at a time, and even then it wouldn't achieve much aside from exhausting her men._

 _So, she had decided to get creative and brutal._

 _Balalaika wanted to send a message in case any more of these neo-nazis were running around. Sure, her idea of sending a message would be brutal and vicious, to make things worse it may even turn this lot into martyrs. But that was something she could not really help in the long term, still, it may get her the answers she needed and wanted._

 _Balalaika checked her watch. She had despatched two of her men to pick Sawyer up half an hour ago in a car after calling to hire her out, so they should be here soon, so all she'd have to do was watch these men and wait._

"Did you get anything out of them when Sawyer the Cleaner was let loose on them?" Chang asked curiously, as though expecting the answer to be a resounding yes.

No-one in the Lagoon Company said a word. Although technically Frederica Sawyer's job was to methodically cut up bodies - it made no difference really if they were living or dead - to either remove evidence or to simply make somebody disappear, and since she worked freelance and genuinely didn't care who hired her so long as they paid for her work, she was flexible and could work either as hired killer like she had during that mess with Jane, or as a torture expert.

Rock still shuddered whenever he heard the sound of her chainsaw and she remembered how Sawyer had cornered him and Jane on the top of the roof of the Lagoon company office. Seeing her on top of the roof in the night, dressed in that dark gothic clothing, her face pale and gaunt while looking in those dead eyes of hers that reminded him of a puppet, and that sick sadistic grin on her face as she threatened to saw him and Jane into pieces while all the time trying to avoid looking at the scar around her neck that looked like a necklace.

Balalaika shrugged and smiled. "Enough," she said.

 _Sawyer looked at the three men without any kind of curiosity and she turned to Balalaika, pressing her electrolarynx to her throat. "What do you want me to do with them?"_

 _Balalaika had had enough dealings over the years with the tortured Cleaner over the years to hide her distaste with the sound of the artificial voice. "I want them to talk, any one of them. If you can make them all speak, then you shall get a bonus."_

" _And if none of them talks?"_

 _Balalaika didn't shrug. She just casually took a drag from her cigarette like Bugs Bunny chewed a carrot nonchalantly even with Elmer Fudd pointing that shotgun at his head. "You shall still be paid," she promised, and she had every intention of doing it. She knew even if these three fools didn't use their common sense and talked as one of them was being cut up into little pieces, Sawyer would put in a lot of effort._

 _Her promise seemed to satisfy Sawyer, but Balalaika had not risen to her current position without knowing when someone was not taking her word at face value. She knew if she didn't pay up Sawyer could easily turn on her, and while her men would defeat her, they would pay a steep price. It would also hurt Sawyer as well - if she got out, then Balalaika might hire a hit on her._

 _One of the Neo-Nazi's sneered at Sawyer as she approached, but their faces blanched in horror at the sight of the chainsaw in her hands. Sadistically, she grinned at the men and pressed her electrolarynx against her throat. "Now, hold still and this will be over with quickly, or even better one of you will tell Miss Balalaika what she wants to know," she said._

 _With that, she revved up the chainsaw and approached them. She ignored them as they pleaded with her not to cut them into pieces, and she marched forwards. The first one she targeted was the one who had spat on Balalaika because he had been the mouthier of the three. When she'd walked in, he had called her "a stupid goth slut," but she wasn't really offended. Frederica had been called worse over the years, most of them were dead of course, but she found he was the best target._

 _The Neo-Nazi screamed at her, shouting threats and propaganda that Sawyer ignored; none of the threats would do any good for him since his life was already over and she hadn't even started yet. Threats turned to screams of pain and panic as the teeth of her chainsaw sliced through the layers of fabric of his heavy duty trousers and into the flesh of his leg before they hit the surface of the bone at the base of his knee._

 _Frederica pulled back and studied his expression. He was clearly going into shock, and for the first time since she'd started, she could see the pool of blood welling on the dirty ground._

 _With the chainsaw still on, flicking small specks of blood everywhere, Sawyer pressed the electrolarynx to her throat. "This is really going to hurt," she said._

 _She mentally laughed to herself when the man's awareness came back and he screamed as she shoved the chainsaw into his leg again, cutting right through the bone, and making the Nazi scream so loud it rivalled the howl of her chainsaw._

Rock was eternally grateful Balalaika was not the type to go into too much detail when it came to describing how people were killed; oh, she might describe it, but she was more matter of fact than others.

"What did they say?" Chang asked, getting to the matter.

"It took a while before one of them spoke. But when they saw one of their friends cut into little chunks, they realised they had no chance of a rescue themselves," Balalaika explained, "still it took time before they spoke."

 _The mouthier Neo-Nazi was dead. Standing away from Sawyer so then the jets of blood and bits of flesh didn't hit her though she had made sure she had a good view of the torture, Balalaika felt nothing as she watched the Cleaner slowly and methodically cut his body into pieces, ignoring his pleas for mercy. As she watched the body virtually fall apart while the Cleaner expertly avoided cutting and slicing into his torso to get to his vital organs until she was ready - Balalaika knew that Sawyer liked leaving them to the last minute, she preferred cutting into the limbs, joint by joint to maximise the amount of pain until the body was overwhelmed before she would begin getting into the chest and cutting it up._

 _The Nazi had then gone quiet due to blood loss and when she sliced into his chest, Sawyer pulled back, dragging some of the Nazi's intestines that uncoiled everywhere, covering the ground and what was left of the Nazi's legs with blood and gore._

 _It was strange, but even for Balalaika, who had seen death in so many different forms, from poison, gassing, bullets, knives, axes…. seeing this variety was hard to take, but she ignored the queasiness she was feeling currently and waited until the Nazi gasped out one last ragged breath before his body could no longer take what was being dished out to him anymore, and he slumped and went still._

 _Seeing her victim die, Sawyer turned off the chainsaw and stepped aside to let Balalaika walk closer to the two currently uninjured Nazi's, her cigarette blowing smoke around her like a sickly sweet cloud of mist._

 _She noticed one of the Nazi's about to open his mouth, but Balalaika turned to Sawyer and pointed out who her next victim was to be. "Do him next," she said._

 _Sawyer revved up the chainsaw again and stepped closer, and without any ceremony, she simply swung the saw right through the man's legs and sliced them off. The Nazi screamed in sudden pain and panic as the chainsaw cut right through his legs, spraying blood and specks of flesh and fabric everywhere._

' _Wait!" the third Nazi screamed in panic as he watched another one of his comrades be torn to pieces. "I-I can't bear it anymore. I'll tell you what you want to know."_

 _Sawyer pulled back and turned to Balalaika, who stepped forwards. "Alright, start talking. Why did you attack Hotel Moscow?"_

 _The man seemed more relieved he had been allowed to live instead of simply be torn to pieces, so he didn't seem in a hurry to talk, so Balalaika nodded to Sawyer, who drove the chainsaw right through the other Nazi's hand, making the man, who had been trying to recover his wits, scream in pure agony at the sudden loss of his hand._

 _The scream made the third Nazi jump and realise the folly in not speaking, so he quickly started to talk. "You weren't the only target. We were ordered by our new leader to attack key places in Roanapur after we had begun targeting ships and boats bringing cargos to the city."_

 _Balalaika stiffened. "It was you that's been launching those raids? Interesting… I know dozens of pirate captains who would love to be here right now, they'd be turning this into an auction so then the winner would have the pleasure of tearing you to pieces."_

 _The Nazi gulped quietly._

" _Keep talking. Tell me about your organisation and tell me why you're doing this. You Nazi's haven't really been a threat in the past since World War two, all you've been doing is preach a philosophy which is a dead end. Why change that now?"_

 _The Nazi looked angry at the slight, but Sawyer, recognising the incoming rant, raised her chainsaw to make the Nazi see it would end badly, and she stepped closer to the Nazi who seemed interested in talking at the moment to drive her point in home._

 _Controlling himself with a visible effort, the Nazi nodded to show Sawyer he would co-operate, and when the Cleaner stepped back, he began speaking._

" _A year and a bit ago, our organisation, the Aryan Socialist Union, was contacted by a former SS officer, Lord Alfred," the Nazi spat at the name, surprising Balalaika because she'd imagined a former Nazi would be seen as Jesus Christ by the Neo Nazi's, "to recover a painting from a sunken German U-boat. The painting was rumoured to have been done by Hitler, but it was just a rumour."_

 _The story of a sunken U-Boat rang a bell in Balalaika's mind. "Would this be the same U-boat that the Lagoon company were hired out to salvage?" she asked._

 _Despite the threat of the Cleaner and her chainsaw, the Nazi couldn't control the anger that flashed across his face, and even when he spoke his voice was vibrating with anger. "Yes," he growled out over the whimpers of his friend, "that bunch of sub-human animals were hired by Lord Alfred as a means of testing us and our resolve to lead the Aryan race to glory!"_

 _Balalaika sighed loudly, not in the mood for Nazi propaganda. "I know from what the Lagoon company later revealed that they killed nearly everyone on that boat, what happened next?"_

" _One of our more senior members became the next leader," the Nazi explained, "he made us see the mistakes we made during that occasion, and he began making sure we didn't make them again."_

" _What mistakes?"_

 _The Nazi looked like he had just swallowed an entire wasp nest and had spent the last half a minute suffering from terrible stings in his mouth and throat all the way down to his stomach, making it extremely clear to the former Russian commander that it was hard for the Nazi to even think about this, never mind speak about them to someone holding them at the point of a deadly chainsaw. Balalaika gestured to Sawyer to make her make another point to get him talking._

 _It worked and the Nazi began talking again. "There were two members of the Lagoon company in that U-Boat to retrieve the painting. When we had it, the two Lagoons chased after us, and when they arrived near the surface they were met by machine gun fire. They were believed to be dead, but all the time they'd been rescued by their shipmates. Anyway, on the boat our organisation had hired, our people celebrated. They saw the recovery of the painting and the death of two graverobbers to be a triumph for the glory of the Aryan race."_

 _The Nazi's sighed and looked down, ignoring the raspy breathing of his friend. "But the Lagoon company caught up with the boat, and they found the detachment of the ASU half drunk. Our leader, Ratchman, had allowed the party to go on and most of us were unable to fight properly-,"_

" _Don't…..say….any more…..," the half-dismembered Nazi protested._

 _Balalaika sighed and whispered a few instructions into Sawyer's ear. The Cleaner then slashed the chainsaw across the man's chest and sawed off an arm. The brutality made the third Nazi gasp in horror, and Balalaika realised one of the problems this Aryan Socialist Union had; for all their ambition, they were incredibly weak._

" _Keep talking," she ordered while Sawyer held the still growling chainsaw to his throat at a considerable distance so it wouldn't touch his skin. "What happened?"_

" _Despite our patriotism to the Aryan race, our soldiers were unable to fight back. Our new leader had had cameras installed in nearly every part of the boat, so we knew what was going on, and so we had a good account of what went wrong, and our new leader didn't waste time in pointing out our lack of training and understanding how to fight. One of our members who had gone down in the submersible to recover the painting, he rushed to the armoury to get hold of a belt-fed machine gun, but he was killed by that skimpy, psycho bitch."_

 _Balalaika lifted a brow, knowing the Nazi was referring to Revy. She was uncertain how Revy would take that description, but she didn't care. "What else?"_

" _Some of us put up a good enough fight, but they were no match for the big black bastard and that subhuman bitch," the Nazi said quickly, though Balalaika had the feeling he was only being belligerent to save face with his friend. "The second in command of the expedition burst through a door and met that bitch in a corridor. Instead of killing her outright, the idiot just kept boasting about his gun, a custom made thing based on the old Lugers. He didn't even notice her reloading her guns. By the time he was nearly finished, she just shot him in the chest, and then put a bullet through his forehead."_

 _Balalaika could almost picture the scene, but she had more important things to learn. "And your old leader was killed," she said. It was a statement not a question, but the Nazi nodded nervously. "Yes. He was killed, but only after he and the black man, Dutch I think his name was, learnt that Lord Alfred had played us for fools. He merely wanted to test us but found out we weren't worth it. The two from the Lagoon company were left with Ratchman and they played a game with him. The woman dropped one of her guns on his desk, wanting to see whether he had the nerve to commit suicide or take them with him when he died."_

 _Balalaika narrowed her eyes. It didn't sound like something Revy would do, she never gave her weapons to anyone, particularly an enemy._

" _Ratchman was clearly about to kill himself, but he then turned the gun over to them, but the gun clicked empty. They then killed him," the Nazi finished the story._

 _Ah, now she could understand the logic. It was clearly a game Revy had cooked up to see whether or not someone had the balls to commit suicide or fight against the Lagoon company and take one of them with them into hell._

" _What happened next?" Balalaika asked._

 _Still, under threat, the Nazi had no option but to talk. "With our leader and second in command dead, there was a power struggle. It was eventually won by our new leader. He made us watch and re-watch the same account of what happened on that boat over and over again."_

 _Balalaika wondered if the contempt this Nazi was showing for his former leaders stemmed from the constant rewatching of the videos but decided she didn't care. It made no difference._

" _Go on," she said._

 _The Nazi took a breath and needed a moment to gather his thoughts so he could carry on without Sawyer threatening him once more, but the Cleaner already knew that. "He made sure we were trained in hand-to-hand combat, gave us training scenarios to make us ready for his plan."_

" _What plan?"_

" _I don't know," the Nazi said, then he screamed in genuine panic when Sawyer made an impatient jerk with her chainsaw, "I DON'T KNOW!"_

 _Balalaika believed him, and she made a visible gesture to force Sawyer to lower the chainsaw, and she waited for the Nazi to calm down before she asked her next question. "Those ships and boats carrying packages and cargos for the various gangs in the city were looted, their crews killed. What was the point of that?"_

" _Some of those cargos were different drugs, they would be collected and then re-sold by our new contacts," the Nazi explained, "but the guns and ammunition, and any other weapons were taken and would be used by us."_

" _What for?" Balalaika pressed._

" _Our new leader has become frustrated by the lack of progress in making a difference. He sent us to Roanapur to attack the various gangs to see if the intelligence gleaned on them was true," the Nazi seemed to be recovering his arrogance, "we'd been sending agents to various cities around the world, but Roanapur is something we consider personal."_

 _Balalaika eyes narrowed dangerously as she caught the implication latent in the Nazi's words. Another thing that bothered her was hearing how the Nazi's had been gathering intelligence on the various gangs. This all sounded like it was just a war, but the problem was she had no idea of how strong the ASU was or what they were capable of._

" _When will this take place?" she asked, but even as the question left her lips she had her doubts he would tell her or even if he would know anything important._

 _The Nazi shook his head, and she realised that he was nearly at the end of his usefulness. After another hour of questioning, she finally gave permission to Sawyer to kill the two surviving members._

"A bunch of skinheads are gonna attack Roanapur?" Revy asked in surprise, but then she gave a scornful laugh. "Let 'em try. They're a joke, no matter how much their new leader has spent time getting them ready for something like this."

No-one said a word to Revy about not overestimating their chances, but Benny pointed something out. "True," he said, "but they have managed to attack a few places in Roanapur already. They sound like an army taking potshots before they really move in."

"And in other places by the sound of it," Chang said thoughtfully before he turned to Balalaika. "Did you learn anything about this new leader?"

"First thing I did when I was finished with the preliminary questions," Balalaika replied, "but he knows nothing about this new leader. It seems he stays detached from the rest of the ASU, but they've quickly realised he is nothing like his predecessor. He is willing to lead from the front, but he isn't stupid enough to be caught by surprise. From what the Nazi told me, he's apparently been involved in different radical gangs throughout his life; don't ask what, I don't know. But the Nazi told me that the new leader doesn't seem to really care that much about the ASU's aims."

"That's a switch," Dutch whispered, recalling that fat little pudding of a leader he'd met during that mess with the painting and how much propaganda he'd been responsible for like that god awful music that had reached the Lagoon even when it was further out to sea. "What else?"

"He doesn't like the posturing you get with Nazi's, how they feel like they deserve to be what they are and what they do to others out of some glorified sense of their own entitlement. But beyond that, it seems none of the Nazi's know who he is in real life, or what he does."

"And so the Aryan Socialist Union are the ones responsible for the theft of our cargos," Chang stated as he thought about what the ASU had done already; Rock personally and privately felt it was a bit rich for Chang to call what the ASU had done "theft" considering what he and Balalaika did, but he said nothing. He had long since stopped caring what happened in this cesspit of a city.

"I guess it makes sense for them to want weapons and drugs to sell on to make more cash," Benny said, "but how long has this been going on? The spying, I mean?"

Balalaika shrugged, puffing like a chimney, "The Nazi who was willing to talk didn't say. I think he didn't know."

Rock caught the past tense but he didn't care about the loss of life, and he caught himself in time. Since when did I just shrug my shoulders and simply stopped caring? He thought to himself before he realised that he only cared for his friends even if sometimes they pushed him to his limits, but they were better than the bastards he had worked for in Tokyo.

Sometimes Rock was terrified of what he might be changing into. Ever since he had arrived in Roanapur, he had been growing as a person, becoming less frayed and panicky under pressure, becoming more comfortable with death that permeated the city like a disease. But he had never lost his morality. It was the one thing that kept him sane.

Finally, he decided to contribute something to the conversation. "I think they're going to attack soon," Rock said quietly, "think about it; the ASU can't have changed all that much from when you," he looked at Dutch and Revy, "shot their boat up. They've been spying on this place for Christ knows how long, and they wouldn't have made a move like this already if they weren't going to do it soon."

Everyone was silent as they processed Rock's point, and it brought down any theorising on everyone's part.

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	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer - The usual - I don't own Black Lagoon.

Feedback would be nice.

Enjoy.

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War of the Fascists.

Taking a sip of his rum in the Yellow Flag bar was the only way for Rock to drown his sorrows and not bother to think about the day that they'd all had after seeing the state Sister Yolanda had been in at the hospital. Rock hoped the woman would pull through - she may have been as sly and as cunning as most of the criminals in the city, but Rock genuinely liked her simply because their limited contact meant she didn't bullshit him like Balalaika or Chang sometimes did.

Yukio and Garcia sprang to mind.

It was evening in Roanapur, and by now the night-crowd had arrived at the bar, some of them were pirates like the Lagoon company and they brought news of more ships and boats that they were meant to be either meeting or attacking being attacked with everything of value stolen.

In return, they were told about the attacks that had been going on in the city. Attacking an organisation like Hotel Moscow was only done by someone who had the manpower, or the balls, and the power for such a job. But attacks on Hotel Moscow, the Triads, and a neutral party like the Rip-Off church was going too far in some books.

Rock could understand the appeal behind the thought of someone going after Chang or Balalaika (while he respected them, that didn't mean there were times that he wouldn't be happy to see either one, or both, just disappear; their loss might drastically affect the balance of power in the city, but truthfully at this stage, Rock would not care), but he didn't know what the Aryan Socialist Union were planning to do besides launch attacks.

Okay, so he hadn't been onboard their boat when Dutch and Revy had boarded it to kill the Nazis' but he had been onboard the same U-Boat where he'd expressed the uncertainties of his old life while trying to reconcile it with his old life in Tokyo when the ASU led by that skinhead had attacked him and Revy after they'd recovered that stupid painting.

Those experiences onboard the U-Boat had helped shape Rock's life in Roanapur, as uncertain as it was as he and the others lurched from one crisis to the next. That U-Boat had also shaped his relationship with Revy.

Anyway, he was relieved to be in the Yellow Flag. It helped him just throw away the current problem without him needing to get involved as he had done with the last mess with Roberta and Garcia. He didn't want to get involved full-stop, but he knew that he would be sooner or later. He only hoped he didn't get cornered on a rooftop as he had with Jane with Sawyer the Cleaner about to slice and dice them into little pieces this time.

He knew the ASU was coming, they all did, but he could hope, right?

The alcohol was a benefit. It helped Rock forget the stares he and the rest of the Lagoon company were receiving, though they would either have to be incredibly brave or very stupid to come up to them.

Revy and Dutch were there, and they were both armed, and only an idiot would want to tangle with them. Part of Rock actually wanted a fight to break out which surprised him considering his pacifistic tendencies, but he was just getting sick and tired of the way everyone was staring or muttering to their friends about the Lagoon company, he just wished someone would get it over and done with already, and since this was Roanapur the chances of a fight were high.

Someone had let slip that the attacks on Hotel Moscow, the Triads, and the Rip-off church were done by an outfit the Lagoon company had tangled with in the past and the same outfit had been behind the loss of orders for the pirates.

Needless to say, no-one was happy about that but Rock had never understood the logic the people in this shithole of a city. While he could understand their reasoning, they were blaming the Lagoon company for the attacks. They didn't realise that the Revy and Dutch had been the ones to slaughter everyone onboard that boat, but they weren't interested in that. Nor did it enter their minds the Lagoon company had also lost business.

In their minds, the Lagoon company had either done something to attract the Nazis' attention. They were so insular and ignorant, it astonished Rock even if he knew he should have been used to it by now. But Rock knew it wasn't that simple and he knew Balalaika and Chang knew it was well. He remembered the story of the interrogation performed by Sawyer the Cleaner and later relayed by Balalaika simply because the Lagoon company knew of the ASU.

The Nazis' had needed the time to find a new leader and to train up so then they wouldn't look the part of a bunch of goose-stepping soldiers who looked good in appearance and had flashy uniforms that harked back to the good old days of the SS and the German army and had top-notch guns but didn't know how to use them.

Revy might have been confident that if the ASU, or the skinheads as she'd referred to them as, showed up they wouldn't get out of Roanapur alive, and while Rock agreed with her, he couldn't help but think the ASU might put up a better fight than they had done last time. Revy hadn't been talkative last time about boarding the boat, but Dutch had described some of the scenes in detail with him and Benny.

The ASU's tactics had been a joke, but Rock didn't know what their level was like now since he hadn't been there when Hotel Moscow and the Triad had dealt with them last night, but he guessed while they were half competent enough to give Hotel Moscow, which was made up by a bunch of former Russian paratroopers, something most were probably only capable of taking on some of the lowlifes in this bar.

Rock sighed and took a gulp of his rum instead of a sip, thankful that his time in college and in the fucked up business world of Tokyo had given him some resistance to the effects of strong booze, and gasped as the liquid went down his throat all at once.

This was the second night in a row the Lagoon company had been in the Yellow Flag. Dutch had only brought them here to unwind, but if he had any other reason then Rock did not care.

Benny heard his gasp and looked at him sympathetically. "So what do you think going to happen?" the bespectacled tech guy of the Lagoon company asked.

Rock looked at him for a second as he tried to work out what Benny meant, and assuming that he was referring to the bar and how nearly everyone was looking at the Lagoon company as if they were the cause of all of their woes, he took another sip that was much slower and he sighed in relief at the burn in his throat.

"I hope there's a fight in here tonight," he admitted quietly in case someone overheard and got the wrong idea and started a fight, "with everyone looking at us as though we've kicked their puppies in the ass, though it isn't our fault the ASU have come back."

Benny sighed. "No, you fool," he said slowly as though speaking to an idiot. "The ASU. How long do you think it would be before they attack do you think?"

"Any day now," Rock replied, his tone making it clear he didn't expect anything less and that he was sure of it. "They've been spying on this place for god knows how long, and it sounds like they've got a bigger plan than Roanapur."

Benny nodded as he accepted that logic, but then he had to ask, whispering in a quiet tone so no-one could overhear and be tempted to "Why do you hope a fight breaks out here?"

"Boredom. I'm sick and tired of everyone in this place staring at us as though what's happening is our fault," Rock answered.

"Ah, I see what you mean," Benny said after he took in the scene; he'd been in Roaanpur long enough to know when not to look.

Rock sighed, but Bao approached with one of his grimy cloths and began to slowly wipe down the bar counter. The bartender's mood towards the Lagoon company had been normal tonight, but Rock could see in his face the lines of stress and the tension in the old mans' shoulders. Like Rock, Bao clearly expected a fight to break out and he was mentally dreading it, and he was counting down the seconds before the Yellow Flag could be closed. Rock had seen the Yellow Flag be virtually demolished more times than anybody could count (he did wonder how on Earth Bao was able to get the place back up and running so quickly, but he guessed Bao had made dozens of deals in his time, though what they were Rock didn't know and frankly did not care), and he could see that Bao was thinking that it was going to happen again.

"Has anything happened?" Benny had to ask.

Bao sent him a disgruntled look. "What do you mean?" he grunted.

"Has the ASU attacked again?"

"Not that I know of," Bao said gruffly. "It looks like the skinhead bastards are lyin' low at this point. Did you guys really deal with them?" he had to ask.

Benny and Rock nodded. "Yeah, but back then they were more for show," Rock replied.

"That I figured. Neo-Nazis. They're all the same. Have you heard from Sister Yolanda?" Bao asked, sounding more concerned than usual.

Rock raised a brow, wondering if there was something more to that concern than friendship. "No," he replied.

Bao sighed and he went back to his business and didn't say another word. Rock shared a look with Benny. The Lagoon company geek was just as surprised as he was, but Rock shook his head. "I don't want to know," he said decisively, shaking his head as an image of a half-naked Bao fucking Sister Yolanda entered his mind.

Benny nodded, and Rock was uncertain if it was the alcohol in his system or the dim lighting, but he could have sworn Benny's face had turned light green at the thought as well. After that Rock checked on Revy and Dutch. The pair of them were not speaking to anybody and they hadn't said so much as a whisper since they'd arrived at the Yellow Flag, but Revy's face was wearing that crooked grin and her eyes were glinting in anticipation. She clearly knew everyone in the bar wanted to fight with the Lagoon company, and she was waiting patiently for it to start while she sat on her stool and drank. It wasn't like her to be patient, but everyone knew it would not take much to set her off.

At this point, Rock had no idea what Revy's current frame of mind was, and he knew her better than she expected. She didn't seem to be in her berserker mood at the moment where she would be scowling and glaring at everyone and everything like an angry wildcat locked up in a cage, and she hadn't lashed out yet because no-one had set her off. Rock had the feeling that was one of the reasons why no-one had started a full-on brawl yet.

There were dozens of criminals in the Yellow Flag at the moment, and more than a few of them were probably keeping some of the more hot-headed ones from coming over and giving Revy the fight she wanted. Rock wished they didn't; sure, Bao would be pissed off with the collateral damage to his precious bar, but at least Revy would come out of it happier. Revy had a few loves; drink, money, and a good fight. She had been deprived of all but one of those things.

Thinking about the loves Revy had made Rock mentally wish that he was on the list since he - No, it was not a good idea to think about that since he had no idea if Revy felt the same way about him, besides why should she?

Anyway, it had been silently agreed by the Lagoon company they would leave together because there was strength in numbers in case one of the idiots in this place took advantage of it. Well, Rock had no intention of leaving on his own, he could feel the tension and he didn't like it even if he wanted a fight to break out.

Bao came back over, his eyes raised over the shoulders of the Lagoon company. "Hi, Eda," he greeted.

Rock turned around just in time to see the woman approach the bar counter, and he and Bao were not the only ones to see her enter the bar. Everyone in the Yellow Flag had taken notice of her and her wrinkled habit. It was unusual to see Eda wearing the habit this far into Roanapur. Usually, she liked keeping a low profile so then no-one could point a finger at the Rip-off church in case she did something that got in the way of the never-ending gang wars in the city.

But tonight Eda didn't seem to really care about her appearance but Rock guessed she was exhausted. He was used to seeing Eda with her long blonde hair loose and her expression underneath her trademark purple sunglasses was haggard and worn out.

Silently Bao poured a generous shot of rum into a glass he retrieved from underneath the bar counter and pushed it towards Eda, who immediately drank it as soon as she reached the counter before learning onto the wooden surface with a long drawn out sigh. Rock felt pity for her, he could see she was only just hanging on by a thread.

It was Benny who broke the silence. "How's Sister Yolanda?"

Eda sighed but she didn't raise her head. She just took another sip of rum before she answered the question. "Still unconscious," she whispered, "Rico is with her now."

"That kid? Is he up to it?" Revy asked bluntly; Rock cursed, this was not the time for Revy to push the boundaries.

Eda nodded. "Yeah, he's a good gunfighter. He's spent the entire day assessing the damage to the church before he came to the hospital. He told me to come here and take a break for a couple of hours."

That seemed good enough for Revy and it effectively closed off that line of questioning.

Eda sighed again and rubbed her eyes while placing her hand over her mouth to hide the yawn. "How're you holdin' up?" Dutch asked gently.

"Not good. I was woken up by gunfire and explosions when they attacked. It all happened so fast, and before I knew what had hit us, Sister Yolanda was injured. I've barely had anything to eat or drink all day. I've just been waiting in case those bastards come back for more," Eda finished with a tired growl, and then she sighed and all her anger which had been welling up visibly during her brief description of how she was coping disappeared.

In a more conversational tone which was a ghost of her usual confident, cheerful and teasing manner, Eda looked at the people next to her, "I hear you guys tangled with those skinheads. Don't worry," she said quickly, "I'm not angry with any of you for this mess. It happens all the time in gang warfare; you hit them and wipe out a good chunk of their membership and their leaders, they rebuild and become stronger than before, and they come back for more. I just wasn't expecting it to happen with a bunch of skinheads. They never struck me as the type to adapt to this extent."

"Yeah, well, whoever's taken charge of them has changed their MO," Benny said.

Eda nodded. "Yeah," she said, taking a gulp of rum.

There was a shuffle of fabric behind the group and everyone jumped when an old chainsaw was dropped with gentle reverence on top of the counter as Frederica Sawyer sat down on top of a bar stool. Pressing her electrolarynx against the hideous scar on her neck, she said in her buzzing electronic voice, "One rum please Bao."

"Coming right up."

Eda looked at the woman sitting near her, trying hard to ignore the fresh-looking bloodstains on the teeth of the chainsaw, "Thanks for interrogating those bastards."

"No problem. How is Sister Yolanda?"

Rock was a little bit surprised when he thought he saw a glimmer of concern in Sawyer's otherwise glassy eyes, but it was gone quickly before he could be sure.

"She's still unconscious at the hospital," Eda replied.

"Give her my regards. She did me a good turn some time ago."

"I will," Eda promised solemnly. "Thanks."

Sawyer inclined her head, just as another woman walked over. Rock was a little surprised to see Shenhua sit down next to Sawyer, but looked over the cleaner's chainsaw and gazed with concern at Eda. "Hi, I so sorry to hear about Sister Yolanda. She okay, yes?" she asked in her broken English.

Rock heard and ignored Revy's mutters about "Chinglish" and took a gulp of rum.

"She's resting," Eda replied.

Shenhua's face had an expression of pity written all over it. "I come to hospital later, yes? That okay? To pay respects."

Rock noticed Eda glance at the Taiwanese assassin for a second, and then nod. "Okay, sure," she said in a guarded way, and Rock had a feeling that Eda would be with Shenhua every step of the way to make sure she didn't use one of her knives to kill Sister Yolanda. Rock could understand that stance; he had met the Taiwanese woman as both an enemy and as an ally. He had seen the ruthless way she had once swung one of her knives on a piece of rope and had sliced and slashed men to bits, he had seen the way she had thrown her kukri knives, and he could tell that Eda was not going to take any chances or risks with her.

Shenhua looked over Eda's shoulder and past Sawyer and saw the Lagoon company. "We kill skinheads when they come, yes?"

Rock was trying to think of an adequate response when Revy, who had been listening into the little exchange between Shenhua and Eda, piped up.

"Definitely, Chinglish," she said.

Shenhua's face became more cheerful. "Oh, hey, Revy. How it going?"

Revy huffed.

Rock was more or less relieved when Dutch stood up heavily and picked up his shotgun and showed off in a wide arc to remind everyone in the bar he and Revy were still there, and they would kill anyone who got in their way or tried anything.

"C'mon, let's get outta here," the big former Vietnam vet said.

Revy sighed. "No fight tonight," she mumbled as she got up unsteadily.

"Don't be too sure," Benny said in warning as he got off his own stool with Rock following on behind. As they walked out of the Yellow Flag, Rock wondered why no-one had tried to start a fight but he got the impression that everyone was in the angry/muttering stage of the mob mentality, but pretty soon it would be unthinking lynch mob, though he wondered if everyone was actually tense because of the whispered threat the ASU were planning on attacking the city, he wasn't sure.

He only hoped the ASU moved. He didn't want to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life waiting for a fight.

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What do you think?

Until next time, and then we see things really take off.


	5. Chapter 5

Happy Halloween.

I wanted to get this done for today, and I hope you enjoy it.

As always, Black Lagoon does not belong to me. All I own is this story and anything else I'll probably write in the future.

Please leave feedback and enjoy.

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War of the Fascists.

Revy shot up when the sound of gunfire reached her ears. "Fuck!" she cursed, listening as the sounds of shooting and people screaming threats in colourful words strung up from various languages reached her ears. Reflexively she grabbed one of her trademark guns and she leaned over the bed in her pokey little apartment and looked out of the window.

The sight that met her eyes made them shoot open in both surprise and then barely hidden sadistic pleasure and glee.

Down in the streets below, she could see white figures wearing familiar looking uniforms shooting indiscriminately at the crowd and whatever criminal was down there. It had been a long time since Revy had seen anyone from that stupid organisation, the Aryan Socialist Union. Call 'em what you wanted, but she didn't really care; a Nazi was a Nazi.

Sitting on her bed for a moment, Revy looked down at the small group who were dressed in those familiar uniforms shooting down below. She couldn't really see who they were fighting against, but it was clear that the Nazis had truly changed their tactics. When she had heard from Balalaika who met them and Chang at the hospital after that attack on the Rip-Off Church the Nazis had changed their tactics and they'd become better trained, she hadn't believed it, not after that mess with the U-Boat.

But now looking over them from above where she had an almost perfect view of them so she could see their positions, Revy took a moment to study their moves and how quickly they fought with a professional eye. She had to admit they were better than those sorry drunken excuses she'd fought on that boat they'd hired out to dive down to the U-Boat to get their hands on that painting rumoured to have painted by that dick-less bastard Hitler, but then she'd never really had a good impression of them when they'd attacked in the U-Boat.

Revy had to admit that at the time they'd had her and Rock, though mostly her, pinned down but that was because of the cramped confines of the sub, but even then she'd had the feeling they were just shooting to distract her and keep her from actually making a better move to fight them off, though she had to admit a few of them had been okay with a gun.

But on their boat, they'd been a fucking joke. They had made the mistake of getting pissed, drunk out of their minds, none of them had realised that their "enemy," the "notorious grave robbers" were pirates, and pirates were not like soldiers. They always fought hard to get what they wanted, and they were not going to let a bunch of skinheads take something they'd been hired to retrieve from a sunken wreck of a U-Boat.

Sure, some of them had been sober enough to provide a good enough fight, and even though she was generally full of contempt for skinheads and what they stood for, Revy had to admit to herself they had spirit.

Too bad they didn't have a clue, not a fucking clue.

Looking down at the street below, Revy could basically see for herself that this lot were only slightly better than the ones she'd met a year and a half ago. They were armed with simple machine guns and pistols, and since they were hiding behind a couple of cars that looked as though they came from somewhere in Roanapur itself and had been swerved into the street on both ends to provide cover, Revy could tell they'd been taught how to use cover in a fight.

Too bad they hadn't counted on her. Working quickly, Revy grabbed her second gun, and she quickly checked to see if their magazines were still in them. When she was satisfied they were fully loaded, Revy opened the window quietly - it wasn't really her forte to be silent, of course, but if there was one thing she had learnt over the years, it was stealth was sometimes best, and besides she wanted to take these skinhead fucks by surprise, she couldn't do that by smashing the butts of her guns against the glass.

She took a moment to gauge their positions before she raised her guns and began firing, killing four Nazis who were taken by surprise. Using that surprise, Revy continued firing down into the street below. The Nazis had been taken by surprise by her first shots, but now they knew she was there shooting them from above they were trying to regroup so they could still continue firing on whoever they'd been firing on before she'd attacked them while they tried to deal with her. But they were taking terrible casualties and she wasn't letting up on them. And she was firing on the cars. That was deliberate. She was hoping some of her bullets would graze some of the metalwork so the Nazis hiding behind them would jump up out of reflex more than a carefully thought out plan to even the odds, and get themselves shot as a result.

It worked as well. She had always seen three of the Nazis get shot from whoever was down there, and they dropped like flies to the ground while she concentrated on the others until only one skinhead was left. She could see the fear in his face, and she guessed he had worked out that he was out of his league, but she didn't let that thought settle. She simply lined one of her handguns' sight to the Nazis head and squeezed the trigger. The bullet pulverised the Nazis head like a melon being exploded.

Revy blew out the smoke coming from the muzzle of her gun as she grimly surveyed the scene from above. It wasn't exactly Two-Hands, but it was good enough for her.

Jumping off of her bed, Revy quickly put on her daisy-duke shorts and slipped on her boots. She gave the shower a longing look; it was too hot to wage a full out war, but she didn't have time for that little indulgent luxury. As she put her clothes on, she could hear the sound of gunfire and explosions that sounded a good distance away from her apartment, and she worked out quickly what was going on. There were more attacks in other parts of the city.

Once she was fully dressed Revy grabbed a rucksack and she filled it with extra ammunition clips before she grabbed one of her larger weapons, a simple shotgun and she loaded it with shells before dropping the boxes of shells into the backpack, which she slung over her shoulders before she left her apartment.

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Ms Balalaika smirked to herself as she listened to one of her lieutenants who'd come to report to her.

The gauntlet was ready.

She and her men had been preparing for a potential war ever since they'd found out the Aryan Socialist Union were preparing and planning to launch an attack on Roanapur. Balalaika, much like Revy, was inwardly contemptuous of Nazis and skinheads in general since they talked big, had rallies, but they didn't go for really hardcore acts of terrorism. Neo-Nazis always threw bottles against cars, talked the big talk but they didn't really have the balls to pull off something like a full on attack.

But the soldier in her, the part of her which had forged a criminal empire with her main HQ in this cesspit of a city, had decided to not ignore the threat, and had given her people their orders to keep an eye on their holdings in Roanapur, and to shoot on sight if they saw any hint of any kind of attack. They would have done that anyway, their business holdings in Roanapur were formidable, and her men liked their lives now they were out of the military. They were not going to give it up for anyone or anything.

She hadn't expected the attack to come so soon after those little pin-pricks, but she had adapted and she had made sure her men were prepared. When she had heard the gunshots earlier, she had quickly taken control and learnt the ASU was just launching a few assaults on not just her organisation but on Chang's and on other members of the Roanapur crime organisation, but that was something she'd expected.

She and her men had kept a small band of the Nazis busy while she had ordered small groups of her men to surround the Nazis up above while she and her men kept them occupied on the street. She turned to the man who'd come to report to her the gauntlet was ready.

"It's time," she commented. "Tell them to shoot to kill."

"Yes, Capitan," the soldier saluted and reached for his mobile to relay the order.

As he was doing that, she turned to the men near her. "When I give the word, open fire. Do not hold back," she instructed.

Balalaika lit a cigarette just as the men on the rooftops began firing down into the street, and in an almost bored voice, she told the men nearest to her to do the same. She closed her eyes for a second as the deafening sounds of machine gun fire filled the air before she reached inside her coat for her own gun.

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Shenhua laughed sadistically as she hurled her Feidao knives with deadly accuracy at some of the Nazis that had crossed her path, her laughing transforming into the childlike giggles of a little girl, only this little girl was fully grown woman who was enjoying her work even if in this case she was not going to see a dime for her troubles in offing the Nazi bastards who'd invaded her home.

The Taiwanese assassin had been picking off little groups of Nazis ever since she'd woken up earlier, and she wouldn't know it ever but she had woken up in a manner similar to Revy "Two-Hands", only in her case she had witnessed groups of Nazis rounding up some of the people in the city who genuinely didn't have any interest in any of the multiple mob bosses who had sliced out chunks of Roanapur to run their operations and just wanted to be left alone to provide for their families.

Shenhua had hidden her surprise at the sight of the Nazis. She wasn't a part of the inner circle of the city, though she was reasonably high up the food chain. She had heard the news from her friend Sawyer the Cleaner about the plans of the Aryan Socialist Union to attack Roanapur. At the time, she hadn't really put much thought into it.

The Nazis would never be able to win against the crime-hardened residents of the city in a million years. She had heard, like everybody else since it wasn't exactly a state secret, about the run-in with the ASU the Lagoon company had heard, and how Revy and Dutch had effortlessly managed to slaughter the lot.

But after she had rescued the people the Nazis had rounded up for some insane reason she could not be bothered to really concern herself with, Shenhua had gone out into the city and she had begun to cut her own path of slaughter through the streets. At first, the Nazis who crossed her didn't seem impressed with her weapons of choice. They had laughed when they had caught sight of her Feidao blades that were strapped to her exposed thigh, and her Kukri knives attached to strong leather straps which she could whirl about like a razor-sharp lasso and slice her enemies to pieces while she was a fair distance away; that was the problem with so many people she ran into, they all thought that carrying a gun made them invincible. In a way they were. While she and Revy had often had arguments, Shenhua did respect the other woman, and she knew that Revy and people like her, like Chang or Balalaika, were great with guns because they'd worked at it.

But the Nazis had quickly regretted their arrogance. It was just too bad they didn't have the time to relay to their friends shooting and blowing up the city just how good she was, but she didn't care.

As she bent down to retrieve her knives from the newly fresh corpses, Shenhua cursed in shock when she was half blinded by the sparks caused by a ricocheting bullet that struck the lamppost she was standing next to as she tried to get her knives back. She turned around quickly and saw another Nazi standing nearby holding a gun. He was about to fire it again, but the Taiwanese assassin didn't give the bastard the time he needed to fire; she grabbed the knife that was still submerged into the flesh of one of the corpses that was still warm on the ground, and she hurled it at the Nazi after taking a quick second to aim it at his lower half.

The scream of surprise and pain made Shenhua wince and she grimaced at the sight of the knife hilt that was now embedded in the Nazis' groin.

Fuck, I'm good, she thought to herself before she remembered herself and she rushed to the Nazi who was in too much pain to actually notice her approach, and she tightened her grip on her Kukri knife and she slashed it across the man's neck, making sure the blade cut right into the throat so deeply he'd resemble Nearly Headless Nick from the Harry Potter books.

After retrieving her knives from the blood-stained corpses, Shenhua went on her way, only to pause as a massive Nazi appeared in her line of sight, blocking her path. She looked up at him in surprise, wondering where on Earth he'd been hiding; he was simply too big to hide his bulk in a doorway or behind a car, though as if that would give him both cover and a way of telling what was going on.

"You're going to pay for what you did, you sub-human slut!" the man interrupted her thoughts, and she quirked an eyebrow. She hadn't seen any kind of weapon on him, but even she wondered how she could kill him. Unfortunately for him, he gave her the opportunity to actually think about it.

"You and your filthy kind have killed too many of the great Aryan race today, but you'll repent with your blood-!"

Shenhua had stopped listening to the man after he had said the word filthy since it was clear he didn't have enough wit to really throw any worthwhile insults to hurt her, and she had tightened her grip on one of the Kukri blades leather straps, but she was now whirling it through the air, the sound alone was ominous and terrifying enough to shut the Nazi up, and just as he reacted by taking a gun out from the back of his belt (ah, so that's where he was hiding it, she thought for a second) but she was too quick for him before she threw the knife outwards while keeping a tight grip on the strap and whipped the knife around so it slashed through the Nazis throat just as he was holding his gun but hesitating to fire as he reflexively kept an eye out on the knife whipping towards him, slashing it to shreds and making him drop to the filthy concrete in a shower of blood.

As he lay gasping on the ground, dying from the blood loss, Shenhua daintily dragged the knife back into her grip and she used one of her white handkerchiefs she kept on her person at all times to clean off the blood, and she walked over to him seductively. She decided to put on a show for him as he died, not that he'd appreciate it much where he was going, and she looked down at him. "You talk too much, Mr Nazi man," she commented before she turned around and walked away, listening to the gurgles coming from the body before he finally died.

She walked away to find more Nazis to kill.

She didn't know how many more there were, but she didn't care.

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Frederica Sawyer was grinning sadistically down at a trembling Nazi who was already missing a couple of his limbs, and his formerly immaculate uniform was soaked with blood as he shook from blood loss and shock. The Cleaner had known about the Nazis and their plans for a short time, but she had known during that time they had been gathering intelligence about Roanapur for god knew how long.

She had been preparing for another day of work, though she was hoping that she didn't get anything today. She had been hoping to just have a lie in, maybe relax with some alcohol that she had in her stockroom which she kept secret from everybody who knew her, though she wasn't sure if Balalaika and Chang knew about it, and maybe watch a movie before the next job came in.

As a cleaner in a city as shitty as Roanapur, Sawyer always knew to keep on her toes but to have everything ready for work. She had just gotten started when the Nazis attacked. Sawyer had quickly dropped her surprise and attacked them with the torture and cutting implements she kept on hand when she felt that her trusty customised chainsaw just wasn't cutting it. Sawyer had launched herself at the Nazis in a charge which would have made any slasher from any really hardcore horror flick cringe at because of how furiously she'd launched herself at the Nazis. She had killed a fair number of them, but she had also taken out the hyper-dermic needles she kept full at all times to knock out some of the Nazis for later fun.

As a Cleaner, Sawyer was extremely versatile and flexible. Though while many people she just used her chainsaw to cut up people into little bits, she went a bit further than that. She performed her own version of many different types of tortures whenever she felt like it, and besides, it wasn't as though the crime bosses cared. All they wanted were dead, cut up corpses, and she provided them but didn't mean she couldn't have fun with the bodies as she cut them up.

Sawyer bent down and lifted the Nazi up. He was too physically weak from shock and loss of blood, he'd been lying in a puddle of it on the ground though how much of it was mixed with the blood of his comrades, she didn't know and frankly did not care. Sawyer grimaced a little bit as she heaved him onto the surgical table. He was heavy, but then all bodies were heavy no matter what, but she was used to this kind of work.

After she got him on the table, she rolled him over and tied him down, using savage meathooks she'd had custom made for her experiments in torture. When she was finished she used a small knife to slash away the Nazis uniform shirt, and she glanced at the man's colleagues. All of them were looking on with bewildered shock and horror. Some of them had just woken up from the sleeping drugs she'd injected into them after she had managed to inject them with after rushing them, and they were looking on in horror while they themselves were being suspended from the ceiling with collars with massive rusty nails in them to stop them moving, though many of them were hanging on being suspended by meathooks that had cut deeply into their bodies.

Pressing her electro-larynx into her throat, Sawyer said in her emotionless monotone voice, "Don't move. I've never done this before."

The man whimpered and gurgled in shock. Sawyer wondered how much blood he had left in his body, he had lost quite a bit, but she shrugged, deeming it unimportant that even if she got this one wrong then she had loads more test subjects left.

Sawyer lifted a pretty large knife, but she hesitated and she pressed the electro-larynx into her scar again, "Tell me, since you're "Aryans," have you ever heard of the Blood Eagle?"

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It was a fight and a half for Revy to get to the Lagoon company's office, but when she got there she found the place virtually under siege, which surprised her a little bit, but since on an average day, it didn't take her long to reach the office so she didn't know if some of the other residents in the city had it this bad.

She didn't care either. All she saw were more people to kill. After fighting her way inside, she was greeted brusquely by Dutch, who was leaning against the wall while he covered both Rock and Benny. "What kept you?" he asked.

"Nazis. They were outside my apartment and I had to fight my way to be here," Revy replied, scowling. She had used up more than half of her shells to get here and thought she had more ammo in stock on the Lagoon and in the office in case she needed it, the fact she had used it up to reach the office had pissed her off. She pushed that aside and she reached inside her rucksack and reloaded her weapons with professional speed before she helped Dutch cover the building, though she spared a moment to glare at Benny and Rock who were helping as best as they could, though it would have helped them a lot if the two men would just pick up a gun or a grenade launcher and actually helped, but she pushed that aside; both men had their strengths, gunfighting was simply not one of them.

Revy jammed her shotgun to her shoulder as she aimed it out of the window towards a cluster of Nazis and she pulled the trigger and downed one. She quickly fired the gun, again and again, pumping the weapon just once in quick succession to not give the Nazis the time they needed to regroup.

Dutch looked down at the carnage through his sunglasses and he grunted in satisfaction. "Good to have you with us, Two-Hands."

"Shut up."

Dutch shook his head, but he quickly stepped away just in time before a bullet slammed into the wall he was using for cover, blasting off chips of plaster. "Fucking bastard," he growled, and he pumped his own shotgun and he took careful aim before he fired, nodding again. "That'll teach him."

Revy fired her own shotgun at the Nazis in the street and glanced at Dutch out of the corner of her eyes for a second. "Why are they bothering with us?"

"Fuck knows, you'd think they'd just concentrate on the big players in the city, but it looks like this new guy is just as small-minded as that other Nazi," Dutch replied, knowing what Revy was asking.

Sure, the Lagoon company had pissed off their own fair share of people over the years, and some had come back for more only to get a much worse beating out of it, but you'd think now the ASU had a new boss they would be concerned with bigger matters instead of getting something as petty as revenge.

Both Dutch and Revy dropped the subject and they began to fire indiscriminately down at the Nazis below. Revy growled as more of the bullets from below smashed into the side of the Lagoon office building, and she wondered what they were trying to achieve, but as she looked down into the street she almost yelled with frustration and delight when she saw more of the bastards coming towards the office. She picked more than a few of them off with her guns, but she knew they couldn't keep them out forever.

The same thought seemed to have occurred to Dutch. The big ex-soldier growled in anger as more bullets fired down from the street impacted against the wall, slamming through the windows and smashing into the walls. He left his post and ran towards the sofa and lifted it up revealing a long but squat wooden crate.

"I'd hoped not to use this," he snapped and he flipped open the top and revealed a grenade launcher.

"What?!" Revy yelled when she saw it. "You had that thing there the whole time -?"

"Yeah, I did!" Dutch shouted back, "But I'd wanted to keep it as a last resort. I was hoping to save it for a customer at some point."

Ignoring Revy's eye roll at Dutch's need to hoard weapons, Dutch rushed back to the window and poked his head out to properly gauge the Nazis positions while he tried to ignore the constant gunfire. He knew it was risky doing this, but he needed to do this. He lifted the launcher and he took aim and fired, but he didn't muster any satisfaction when he saw the grenade explode in a cloud of flame that shot up into the crude shape of a Christmas tree, sending up Nazis caught up in the explosion before they dropped to the ground.

Dutch aimed the launcher again. "You take the left," he said to Revy.

The woman nodded, and she lifted her guns.

Between the pair of them, they blew up and shot up a large chunk of the street and killed as many of the Nazis as they could. One of Dutch's grenades blew up the fuel tank of a car, killing the Nazis hiding behind it. Dutch had seen them hiding behind the shot up vehicle, and since he knew Revy couldn't get them out, he decided to get rid of them once and for all and it worked.

The door to the office exploded taking the Lagoon company by surprise, but by the time Revy and Dutch had gotten their acts together, a stream of Nazis rushed through the doorway. The Nazis below forgotten, Revy and Dutch turned to defend themselves, but before Revy could even raise her weapons to fire at them point blank one of them punched her in the gut. Revy choked in shock and pain as she folded at the force of the impact, and she cursed when she felt her hands lose their grip on her prized guns. No, this couldn't happen. She had trained long and hard to be the best there was, she couldn't just lose like this, not like this.

Any further thought was cut off completely when the Nazi fighting her wrapped his arms around her throat and pushed her to the ground so he could suffocate her better, but what pissed her off the most was the bastard was choking her to death had forced her down to the ground so she couldn't even die on her feet.

Revy managed to twist her head around a few inches so she could see what was going on. Dutch was fighting three Nazis at once, lashing out with brutal punches and moves he'd learnt during his time in the Army and mixed them with a few moves he'd picked up over the years. He had snatched one of the Nazis by the throat and used him as a human shield so then if the bastards friends tried to shoot him they'd kill their pal, though she could see it happening since the Nazis believed in their cause.

But it was the sight of Rock and Benny that pissed her off even more. The Nazis had simply smacked them to the ground with the butts of their weapons before they'd even had time to react. Benny was knocked to the ground, but his back was to her as he lay on the ground, so she had no idea how bad his injuries were.

But Rock…..

Rock was lying on the ground as well, his stupid blue tie askew as he lay near the sofa while nursing a bruise, he looked dazed but otherwise okay but before she could do anything to try and escape, the Nazi suddenly punched her in the face. Revy was really pissed off, but with her oxygen supply being slowly cut off by the force the bastard was applying to her body, she couldn't see any way to get out.

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As he lay on the floor with his back to the sofa, aching from the surprise blow he'd taken to his face, Rock sometimes wished someone would teach him to fight properly and he wished his fucking upbringing would make him less of a fucking pacifist. He had always relied on using his intellect to help him through tight spots and diplomacy as well as a silver tongue which did wonders to diffuse a situation, but at the moment he was too sore and his head was spinning too fast for him to truly concentrate.

Rock was so dazed by what happened he could barely remember what had happened, though he remembered how the door to the office he worked in with the others had exploded, and a stream of Nazis had rushed in and by the time anyone in the Lagoon company had managed to react, one of them had smashed something hard into his face and then punched him in the stomach.

Rock was surprised he wasn't dead, but he didn't really care what the reasons were since his mind was too busy trying to recover so he could make sense of the situation. He could dimly hear the sounds of groaning, fist fighting and voices, but he couldn't make any sense of them. He felt as though he were someone caught in a terrible explosion, and his ears were ringing with the aftermath.

Rock painfully pulled himself upright and looked around, hoping to see what was going on. His eyes widened in horror when he saw something that made his heart seize.

Revy was on the ground with a massive Nazi holding her down. Revy was trying to weakly get the skinhead off of her while the bastard was holding her down and applying pressure to her throat as he squeezed the life out of her.

THAT made Rock push the pain and the daze out of his system, and he quickly looked around, ignoring the sight of Dutch taking on a number of Nazis at once, and he saw something lying on the ground. Rock reached across to it, ignoring the pain he was feeling as he crawled over to reach it…..

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Revy was beginning to realise she was going to die unless Dutch managed to kill the bastard on top of her, but she could just dimly see her boss taking on the same Nazis as before, but she didn't care why he wasn't killing them yet.

She coughed weakly as she felt the Nazi apply more pressure onto her neck, at this rate the bastard would snap her neck before she suffocated but she could tell he was enjoying this and he was taking his own sweet time. She called upon every last ounce of strength left in her body and she tried to punch the Nazi in the eye.

He grunted as her fist weakly socked him in the cheek, but otherwise the blow was too weak to cause him any harm. Revy looked into his face, and she was furious when she saw the bastard grin at her crookedly while he laughed. "Is that the best you can do? After you murdered my brother, I've dreamt of killing you, you filthy bitch!"

Revy coughed as she choked out, trying to get some particles of air into her lungs even as she wondered who the fuck this bastard's brother was. She looked at him closely, but she was starting to black out from lack of oxygen…..

"I'm going to enjoy this!" The grinning Nazi said, his words were the last thing she heard, but his words barely penetrated into her mind. All she could see was not the Nazi, but Rock's face.

"I'm sorry, Rock," she apologised to herself at last.

"What did you say?" the Nazi asked her, bewildered but Revy didn't care she'd spoken aloud. She only hoped Rock had heard her before she died….

A gunshot rang out and a part of the Nazis' face exploded, showering her with blood. Revy felt the Nazis hands go slack around her throat, and she quickly threw them off and she coughed violently and greedily as she tried to suck in as much air as she could. She reached up and rubbed her throat before she weakly sat up before she asked herself where the gunshot had come from.

She looked to the right and her eyes widened when she saw Rock.

He was holding her gun up. His eyes were glassy with shock, but there was something else there.

Satisfaction.

* * *

Until next time.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer - I don't own Black Lagoon, unfortunately. If I did there'd be another series, or movie.

I had a hard time writing this chapter. I had to rewrite it three times before it made sense. I hope this chapter meets with everyone's approval, and I would like feedback to rate how I do.

* * *

War of the Fascists.

"Rock-?" Revy whispered in surprise when she looked in his face and saw the satisfaction in his eyes when he looked down at the body of the Nazi he'd just killed.

Nothing seemed real to her anymore, even Dutch wrestling with the Nazis who'd been fighting him for the last few minutes. She knew it was a bad move, that she should be demanding her gun back, but all she could see was the now suddenly ashamed look on Rock's face as he looked down at the Nazi on the ground

All to save her.

As she looked at him, wondering how Rock could suddenly be a killer, she looked into his eyes and saw the genuine shame in his expression but she could also see that while he was upset about what he had done, he was happy she was safe. She could see it in his eyes.

He didn't like what he had done, but she could see in his face the resolve that he was happy he had saved her life.

Revy was grateful, yeah, but she was shocked and even horrified that Rock, someone she'd never considered to be a killer, would even pick up a gun and shoot a man. She knew what Rock was capable of - he was a thinker, not a killer. He used words to deal with situations, not bullets.

It was just…so wrong of Rock to have to go this far.

Usually, it was her who used the guns, not Rock.

As she looked at him, Revy remembered how he had changed gradually during his time in Roanapur before he'd deliberately watched that Japanese girl commit suicide with that sword in Tokyo.

She'd failed.

She had let him down.

All of this was her own fault.

She had long since wanted to keep Rock safe, kinda like an overzealous mother determined to keep her child wrapped in cotton wool, though she wasn't an overzealous mother. She didn't want someone who struck her as innocent be tainted by the shit of Roanapur. That was why she had always gone to such trouble to protect him.

Now it looked like she had failed. Revy had always claimed he was too reckless to live in Roanapur, or it was because he was needed by the company, stuff like that, but truthfully she didn't want him to be hurt.

Rock looked up at her, and he reached for her with his only free hand, aware he was still holding one of her prized cutlass guns. "Revy, I-," he tried to say, though what he was planning to say to her because at that moment there was a flash of movement by the door.

On reflex Revy turned, only to see a group of new Nazis, but there was something different about them, their weapons….

Before she could even react there was a _pphutt_ sound, and then she felt everything go black…..

* * *

Revy groaned as she came to, unsure how long she had been unconscious since the Nazis had knocked her out.

She felt extremely dizzy and as she felt her strength returning she turned her head from side to side, realising dimly she had her back against a wall, but she didn't immediately recognise where she was now. She knew she wasn't in the Lagoon office with its cheap and dismal furniture with the coffee table littered with ancient beer cans and pizza boxes, but she had problems focusing on where she was now and what was happening.

No, she was in a room that looked like some kind of restaurant or a cafe, decorated with chipped red painted walls with light streaming in from the windows above. It was still daylight, she realised, so that meant they couldn't have been unconscious that long unless of course, the Nazis had used a drug that was strong enough to knock them out for a long period.

Revy pushed that out of mind; if it was true then she would deal with it later, but right now she needed to know what was going on.

Her heart turned to ice when she realised she was not alone. Lying in a corner was the burly massive figure of Dutch, but his face was in shadow and she couldn't see him. As she looked around she could see Benny slumped against the walls, bathed in sunlight, looking more dishevelled in his Hawaiian shirt that looked like it hadn't been cleaned for weeks next to his unshaven face and messy long hair.

But what really frightened her was the sight of Rock. Like her and Benny, the former Japanese businessman was slumped against the wall of wherever they were. She looked around, trying desperately to find a way for them all to escape, but all she saw were a number of tables and chairs shoved against the opposite wall at the far end, but the most incongruous thing in the room was the TV trolley complete with a TV screen on it with a black cable running from the back and connected to a plug. Revy ignored it. Her head was still spinning and besides, she wasn't interested in working out why there was a TV in the same room as she and the rest of the Lagoon company were stashed inside.

She heard a groan and she looked up and she saw that Rock was coming around, and not far behind she could hear Benny and Dutch groaning as well, though their groans were much quieter than Rocks.

She watched as Rock began to come to, and she could see the way he looked dazed and confused. Revy knew how he felt; she had felt as though she'd been nursing a pretty bad hangover when she'd come to, and so she knew how Rock felt. Rock, like her, looked confused by where he was in the room, to say nothing of how he looked around to get his bearings. Revy wondered what was going through his mind as he looked around, but it took a few moments before the former Japanese businessman looked around and took note of what had happened to his workmates and fellow pirates, looking with confused horror at Benny's slumped figure which was a mirror of his own posture before he saw the form of Dutch just lying there.

Rock turned his head and peered at her. "How….long have we been….out?" he slurred at her like a man who'd been both drunk and asleep for days.

Revy shrugged. "I don't know," she whispered. "Until we get out of here, we won't know anything."

Meanwhile, Rock was looking around again, his gaze becoming more clearer. He groaned.

"What is it?"

"Don't you remember this room?" Rock asked. "This is the mess room on that freighter with all the corpses, the one where the Nazis just took everything on board."

Damn it! Revy mentally kicked herself and then shot herself with a mental version of her cutlass handguns (she wondered what had happened to her weapons; she had used dozens of weapons in the past, but those guns had grown on her since they had been designed and made so well that they fit her like a glove) for forgetting so quickly about the freighter.

"Why the fuck would they bring us here?" Revy asked herself, not looking at Rock; it wasn't personal but she wasn't sure what to think about her friend after what he'd done and behaved so out of character even if it had saved her life.

"I don't know," Rock sighed before his voice became weary and exhausted. "Revy, are we going to do this?"

"Do what?" Revy asked sharply, trying hard not to look in his direction.

"You ignoring me, refusing to look at me properly after what I've done. I had to do it, I had to save your life. The bastard was killing you," Rock said, but hearing what he was saying only served to make her angry, though relieved as well.

Revy closed her eyes when she heard the desperation in Rock's voice. Part of her was relieved that Rock still retained some of his classic uncertainty and had some of his harmless qualities. So why was she angry? Revy rarely did any soul-searching since it wasn't in her nature. She had never had much of an opportunity to develop an interest in something that wasn't profitable. She was still haunted by that bitch maid, not Roberta, said to her about Rock, that he wasn't her knight in shining armour, that he had a quality she admired. Well, she was right, Revy did admire Rock, but she dearly hoped that Rock wasn't some callous murderer.

She had seen too many of them in her life, hell she was one for fuck's sake. "I'm grateful for what you did," she found herself saying, but she refused to look him in the eyes for the moment, she needed to get this right. "But you aren't a killer."

Finally, she looked him in the eyes so then he could see the raw emotions in them.

Rock took a deep breath when he looked into Revy's face, beautiful in a hardened sort of way though there were moments where she let loose some of her femininity, usually, that happened when she was genuinely happy.

But right now all he could see was a mishmash of emotions. Anger was there, nothing new since Revy had a temper that could put the Incredible Hulk to shame, but there were other emotions there as well. Looking into her face right that moment, Rock was vividly reminded of that time where Revy had lashed out at him following that mess with the ASU and the U-Boat (kinda ironic that once more the Nazis were bringing out Revy's more vulnerable side but he pushed it out of the way).

"Revy-," Rock tried to say, but she interrupted him.

"I could've dealt with him eventually," she said, making it sound like no big deal. She even shrugged nonchalantly as if she had enough practice in that area.

Rock was not fooled. "Revy, the bastard had such a tight grip on your face, it was changing colour. I could also hear your pants for breath. He was suffocating you."

Somehow the matter of fact way he'd said that only made her angrier. Revy looked away, and he was shocked to see, in this great bright sunlight, the glistening path of tears.

"She was fucking right," Revy whispered.

"Who?"

"That mini-maid. She told me that I wanted to see something in you, but you do have something I don't like," Revy said, and Rock's heart seized at the sight of her face.

"Revy-."

"The Rock I know wouldn't lift a gun to anybody, but you did. You have changed." Revy's voice was upset and it sounded like she was on the verge of crying her heart out.

Rock wriggled a little bit to make sure he could move; he had to get over to Revy now, but first, he wanted to make a few things clear. "Revy, please. I didn't want to kill that Nazi. But when I saw him strangle you I knew I had to do something because I've always taken a back step, let you and Dutch do the fighting. I saw your gun, I used it. Why are you bringing Fabiola up now?"

Revy looked at him, her eyes leaking tears that trickled down her face in salty rivers. "When I saw your face after you shot that Nazi, you looked satisfied."

Rock took in a deep breath when what Revy was saying penetrated his mind. No, she couldn't honestly believe…. No!

"Revy, you have it wrong," he tried to say.

"You killed someone, to save my life, and you enjoyed it. What happened to the Rock I knew?"

"I didn't enjoy it!" Rock snapped back, disgusted with the thought. "I was satisfied because you were safe. That was all that mattered to me, and I was prepared to do the same for Dutch and Benny, but you know how that went. And as for your last question, I've changed Revy. Hear me out, please."

Revy swallowed. The expression on Rocks' face reminded her so much of the person she had always admired and loved. "Go on," she said patiently, well as patiently as someone with her disposition was able to go.

Rock ran a shaking hand through his hair, hoping he got this right. "When I first found myself in Roanapur, I felt like a rabbit dropped into the tiger's pen. I'd just been betrayed by the company I'd worked for, slaved for more like, and I was trying to find my feet. I like to think problems could be solved with diplomacy, not violence. I still do."

"Didn't stop you killing that Nazi!"

"I DID IT BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!" Rock lost his patience and shouted in frustration.

Rock took a deep breath when he saw Revy's stunned expression. Oh god, he thought to himself, I've blown it…. How could she love someone like me, I'm nothing to her…

* * *

Revy looked at him in surprise. She had what he said/shouted echoing in her mind. Part of her was excited but the part of her who had believed no-one, let alone someone like Rock, could ever love her was telling her to hold back the urge to leap over to him and kiss him to death. "You love me?" she whispered.

"I know you don't feel the same way about me. But I've always totally been fascinated by you. I wanted to know you better when we first met, that's why I kept trying to have conversations with you, but you always lashed out at me."

Revy looked down ashamed. She had been unsure about Rock at first because she hadn't really known him since he was a completely different type of person compared to the types she normally hung out with. She had seen him as an annoyance at first, so she had done what she had always done to people like that - ignore him, berate him, or lash out at him. She had purchased that stupid shirt for him as a welcome present, but he hadn't accepted it, and she had been insulted by it.

Rock sighed, and she looked at him again, determined to listen to what he had to say. "I fell in love with you, I think I always did."

Rock slowly lifted himself up off of the ground and walked over to sit next to her. When he sat down again, he sighed with relief since his legs had felt like heavy lead weights.

"Revy, why are you upset with me saving your life? You mentioned Fabiola, but why bring her into this? She said to you something about me."

"She said you were not the person I thought you were; kind-hearted, innocent, that type of thing."

"Revy, I had spent a year and a half in Roanapur, and before that, I'd had my ass kicked day in, day out by that company I'd worked for so faithfully for so long only to be dropped without a care in the world. I'm not saying that's an excuse, but it's true. I did try to keep my idealism, but I became tired of it."

"What happened?"

Rock closed his eyes and thought about the question deeply, and then he became inspired.

"Do you remember when we went to Japan?" Rock asked.

At her nod, Revy sighed in apparent understanding. "Ah, that Yukio girl. Told ya you shouldn't have gotten involved."

"I had hoped that if I could help a girl who seemed to have only one path of life, then she might become a better person, but we know how that turned out," Rock said, and he closed his eyes. "Do you remember when you yelled at me to not look when she slit her own throat?"

Revy nodded. "I did that because I didn't want you to see a kid be killed."

"I'd already seen one of the Vampire twins be murdered in front of me, on commission from Balalaika herself," Rock pointed out gently, looking even more haunted, even as he remembered how "she" had entranced him with "her" singing skills before he'd discovered just how sick the abuse the twins had endured was. "But do you know why I looked on as Yukio died?" he went on; thinking about those two kids who had suffered so much and lashed out so violently and psychotically was too depressing.

Revy paused to listen.

"I did it because I wanted to see one of my failures. I'd wanted to try to make Yukio into a better person," Rock said. "I wanted to try to make things better. I tried the same thing with that mess with the Lovelaces. I thought I could make Roanapur a better place, for you, for me, for the others. But I couldn't even do that. I played a long game like one of those old chess masters, or poker players who thought nine moves in advance to keep ahead of the curve. I wanted there to be some hope in Roanapur, so then everyone wouldn't feel as though the next day could be their last. I wanted you to have some of that hope. But it didn't happen. The place is still a shithole."

"That would never have changed," Revy whispered, upset on his behalf that all of his planning and strategising had not gone the way he'd hoped. But she was just as upset because while she had shared his hope, she had thought he was going too far, but she had never imagined he had done some of it for her.

Rock licked his lips. "I know," he whispered. "I tried so hard to show people that things could change, but all I did was manipulate a kid when all I needed to do was get his maid back while tangling with the US of A. I became so obsessed with the idea of changing everything I even convinced myself I could cure a rainy day. But it was soon shattered, of course when Roanapur wouldn't change."

"You can't change the unchangeable, Rock. Roanapur has been a shithole for a long time, but it's the kind of place bastards like Chang and Balalaika thrive in. They wouldn't have allowed you to change anything which would compromise their operations further down the line, and even if it did they'd have found a way to get through it to keep the status quo," Revy said.

"I know. Nowadays I don't really care, but I really wanted to change the place around but all I did was alienate my friends and the woman I love," Rock whispered the last bit sadly.

Rock's tone made Revy even more upset as she remembered how she had beaten Rock up to snap him out of his plans but most of all because she wanted him to snap out of it, and once more become that good man she cared about, the Knight in Shining Armour that he was.

And then she realised the truth.

Fabiola was right but she was also terribly wrong.

Rock was a good man no matter what he did. Okay, he had flaws like everyone else - she could hardly claim she was perfect herself, she sometimes believed whenever she thought about the possibilities of having a relationship with Rock late at night that she wouldn't have one because of her terrible temper and her general attitude. She had told herself Rock would drop her like a stone shortly after they'd tied the knot.

But he wasn't perfect.

Even his aims to make things better in Roanapur were flawed and doomed to failure. She'd known it, Dutch had known it, and Benny had known it, but listening to him now, about what he had wanted to do, made her love him even more.

Her sorrow must have been visible because Rock gently reached out and touched her cheek. Revy closed her eyes, relishing the touch before she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he whispered, looking at her with such worry and concern it made her heartache.

"Nothing," she said truthfully, but then something entered her mind. "Rock, I….I love you too," she confessed.

Rock looked surprised. "You love me?"

"Surprised?" Revy wasn't sure how she felt, but the hurt was definitely one of them.

"I didn't think I was your type," Rock said.

Revy chuckled. "Life works in mysterious ways. I never really thought about my type to tell you the truth, but when I grew to know you, someone I tried to put off because I was so afraid of trying to start something with you, only for you to drop me."

"I'd never do that. I was worried you'd drop me because you might think I'm a coward."

Revy closed her eyes. She remembered how Rock had come to them, so scared of his own shadow, but she had never thought any less of him since he had been smart enough to help them destroy that attack helicopter. "I don't think you're a coward Rock. I'm the coward because I didn't know how to tell you how I felt."

"Don't say that," Rock said and he gently wrapped his arms around her. The action startled her because she had never been hugged like this before, but Revy settled down quickly and she hesitantly wrapped her arms around him as well. Rock smiled as he held her, holding her was wonderful, and that gave him the courage to do what he needed to do next.

"Revy," he said to get her attention, and when Revy lifted her head, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers gently. He felt her start in surprise but she relaxed quickly.

Rock's eyes widened when he felt Revy lean into the kiss and he felt her mouth open invitingly for him.

She was returning the kiss.

Rock's lips soon drifted downwards, lingering on her jaws for a moment so he could kiss her soft skin. Revy moaned a little as he did, a sensual sound Rock had never expected to hear except only in his dreams. Rock deepened the kiss and he felt Revy's tongue play with his for a second. Typically she was trying to be fierce compared to him, but he gently soothed her so then the moment would last longer.

Only the moment was broken when they both heard a groaning sound coming from Dutch, and as if on cue there was a whimper from Benny.

The new couple broke off, annoyed their moment had been shattered, but Rock stayed close to Revy, and he wrapped his other arm over her chest. She wasn't sure how to feel about his close contact with her boobs, but she didn't care.

"I love you, Rebecca," she heard him whisper.

Revy was unsure how to feel about him saying her full name, something she hated, but she didn't care at that moment. There was no malice in his voice, no desire to manipulate her. There was just pure love and innocence.

She reciprocated in kind. "I love you too, Rokuro," she returned, using Rock's own full name, knowing he had come to dislike his name, especially after how his own boss had just dropped him and left him to fend for himself. But now Rock didn't seem to mind while she made a symbolic gesture. He just tightened his grip on her until his embrace was both loving and protective.

Revy felt her eyes water again as emotions she had never expected to feel made their way up, but she burrowed into Rock to savour the moment because she wasn't sure if they were going to get out of this in one piece.

* * *

Until next time.


	7. Chapter 7

Merry Christmas.

I've spent a while writing a whole number of chapters and stories for Christmas day as a present for all of you. I hope you enjoy this.

* * *

War of the Fascists.

"Ughh," Dutch groaned as he came to, instinctively the large Afro-American began to fight the efforts of whatever those Nazi fucks had used to him and everyone out.

The former US vet was surprised the Aryan Socialist Union had gone to this much trouble to capture his company, though it also didn't make sense.

If they had wanted to capture the Lagoon company they should have either kidnapped them in the middle of the night, not tried to beat them up or suffocate them in their office, and it made him wonder what else was going on.

But while Dutch was curious he also didn't want to care though he knew it was important they get answers. They could mean the difference between life and death after all.

As he came to, Dutch noticed Benny was lying on the ground but like himself, the computer geek was coming around as well, getting up slowly. To Dutch's relief, both Rock and Revy were awake, but he was only slightly surprised when he noticed how close they were now, but while he was pleased for both of his friends this was not the time for them to have some romance.

Dutch looked around the room they'd been dumped in, but before he could look any further to get some clues Rock cleared the air for him. "We're on that freighter where we found those dead bodies," he explained.

Dutch nodded, quickly realising Rock was right. "Have you seen anyone?" he asked.

"No. We were just dumped here," the former Japanese businessman answered. "We haven't seen anyone."

Revy was silent as she tried to leave Rock instinctively, slightly embarrassed by the fact Dutch had noticed how close she and Rock were though Revy was far from caring about how people might see their relationship, but she soon sat back down when she made the decision she didn't care one fucking bit if Dutch had noticed her. He may have been her boss, but he had no say in who she dated.

She glared at Dutch to keep him quiet, but luckily he kept his mouth shut.

Benny let out a loud groan to announce he was waking up and he was aware enough to take everything in. "Urgh, they certainly went to a lot of trouble to bring us here."

"Right, and they were ordered to drag us out here to this ship after they'd tried to kill Revy?" Rock retorted sharply, making Benny blink a little bit in surprise at the hard tone, surprised the usually mild-mannered former Japanese businessman would use that tone on him.

"No-one's disputing that Rock," Dutch said gently, not using a harsher tone since it wouldn't do any good and this was not the time to have an argument. "But we need to know why they brought us here and fight our way out."

Rock closed his eyes and nodded after a moment, subconsciously holding Revy tighter. He regretted how he had just spoken to Benny, but the thought of what had nearly happened to the woman in his arms had sparked his temper.

Revy, meanwhile, growled. "I hope those sick fucks haven't done anything to my guns," she whispered, the anger boiling underneath her words.

Rock held onto her, knowing that there was more to her statement than the fact the guns were just mere weapons. He knew she loved her guns, they were lethal and she knew how to use them until they were a part of her. But he doubted the Nazis had done anything beyond leaving them.

" _ **Oh, don't worry Ms Lee. I doubt my men have done anything to your weapons**_."

* * *

Sunlight glinting on the lenses of his sunglasses as he methodically shot his way through the ASU thugs in a somewhat menacing shine that was as vicious and as cruel as the grin on his face, Mr Chang of the Triads could not help but enjoy himself.

His line of work was dangerous and he had gotten into many gunfights over the course of his career, but it was extremely rare he took part in the action like this. Movement registered in his peripheral vision, and he turned his head briefly to make sure it was a Nazi; all of his people knew that fighting shoulder to shoulder with him was dangerous since he was an unpredictable fighter, but truthfully good help was hard to find so he didn't want to harm anyone of his people.

His sadistic smirk widened when his eyes registered the familiar uniform (Why the ASU were so unoriginal with their uniforms he didn't understand since it didn't automatically make them as good as the SS) of three Nazis to his left, and they knew he was there. Just like they knew he was there. They were lifting their guns, but he didn't give them a chance to fire. With acrobatic moves he'd trained himself to master, Chang twisted his spine and brought his guns to bear on the Nazis to his side while making sure there were none in front of him. Three bullets. One of them went through the eye of the middle Nazi. One bullet went through the chest of the Nazi to the left, while the third and final bullet went into the gut.

Chang smirked as he heard the screams from all of them, but the moment they dropped he forgot all about them to focus on the battle ahead. As he fought the ASU, he didn't bother trying to take any of them prisoner. There was no point. The ASU had made their move and their point perfectly, so there was no reason for him to care about keeping someone alive for interrogation. Besides they were being slaughtered by everyone in Roanapur.

He had been hearing reports and rumours from everyone out there. He had heard how Shenhua was methodically carving a path of gory murder as she slashed her way through the ASU. Sawyer the Cleaner was using the Nazis who were unlucky enough to cross her path as some kind of experiment, though what that meant Chang didn't want to know. While the other low-level gangs were definitely fighting back, Chang's rival and opposite number, Balalaika was certainly proving her reputation as a former soldier. Already she had slaughtered her way through most of her territory and a little bit beyond as the ASU tried to overrun them. Stupid bastards. Even if they had the intelligence taken from previous visits, taking on a group of former Russian soldiers, hardened from god alone knew how many battles, was not going to be the easiest.

A Nazi came out of no-where, screaming like a Viking berserker while wildly firing his gun though the young Nazi had problems aiming his gun at him. None of the bullets came close to Chang, but he still jumped out of the way, lifted one of his own weapons and took his time as he waited for the right moment to shoot back. Finally, he lined his gun up and squeezed the trigger, killing the Nazi.

Hmm, Chang thought to himself. I thought the ASUs' new leader had made sure they had gotten some training. Either this one slipped the net somehow, or he didn't do well. Or he just panicked.

Eventually, Chang shrugged his shoulders. He decided it made no difference. He had done what he had done to protect himself. Standing up cautiously, Chang moved through the streets to look for more prey.

* * *

Shenhua on some level had to marvel at the way the Nazi bastards kept coming back for more. The Taiwanese assassin had been rushing from one fight to another when she had come across a group of Nazis who had tried to surround her so then they could shoot her down, but she had managed to hold them off, but they still came back for more.

The ground was a testament to that; the concrete was soaked with the oily red slick of blood which would turn black later on, attracting rats and whatever vermin existed in the city. The corpses of her previous victims covered the ground, their uniforms slashed from her knives as she'd cut into their bodies.

But while Shenhua, like many in the city, enjoyed a good fight, she wanted it to end. Now. The Nazis had surrounded her, and they must have heard of her trademark skill of using the lines attached to her knives to slash through the air at greater distances to ensure her enemies realised she had a long reach because they had managed to surround her. They were too close for her to escape, and now she was fighting them in a circle of multiple ranks.

If she wasn't so irritated and becoming tired of this fight though she tried hard to make sure the Nazis did not sense her weakness, Shenhua would have admired their tenacity.

Grinding her teeth in frustration when one of the Nazis tried using a sword (She had noticed that some of the Nazis had been issued with swords, clubs, or even whips to go along with their machine-guns, she guessed they had the other weapons so they wouldn't be reliant on their main weapons) on her, but the Nazis moves were clumsy and he wasn't very good at it. The Nazi had evidently been taught the basics of sword and knife fighting but he wasn't very good at it, it was almost as though he'd been sleepwalking through the lessons and had only picked up tidbits. He swung at her, but she had seen the move an hour off, but she pretended she hadn't; the last thing she wanted to do was make one of his more competent friends take his place and potentially give her more problems.

She instead met his sword with both of her knives. He growled angrily, pressing down on her as he tried to break her barrier. Shenhua decided to give him what he wanted because one of the other Nazis might decide to just shoot her in the back or something. Moving quickly she jumped out of the way, sending the Nazi falling to the ground suddenly. He clearly hadn't been prepared for it, but she didn't give him the chance of getting back up.

Tired of fighting, Shenhua just ended the Nazis life with a slash to the head. The top of the Nazis' head was scalped, and he died with his brain sliced on top.

Without giving any thought at all, Shenhua dropped to the ground and she moved like a spider as she spun around on the concrete as she slashed all around her like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. Vol.1. Shenhua had seen the movie a hundred thousand times and she had loved many of the gory death scenes, but this was the first time she had ever used this method of killing. She was overjoyed when the Nazis, completely unprepared for what she was doing to them, screamed in surprise and pain as she whipped about on the ground, cutting their feet off, felling them like moving trees as she severed their trunks.

But as she did it and the Nazis began dropping to the ground, screaming and clutching to their bleeding stumps, Shenhua knew there was a chance she wasn't going to get away from here for a while, though she hoped she could just step over the Nazis and let someone else deal with them. The thought of someone really sick (Well in this trash heap of a city, there were bound to be a few) with a car or something so then they could just run over the Nazis, crushing them under the weight of the wheels.

Well, she could dream, right?

* * *

The Nazi was called Adolf, named for the glorious leader of Nazi Germany, and he was honoured to possess the second name Himmler after the SS leader. The Nazi had always considered himself blessed to be given the names of two of the greatest Nazis in world history, and he had always seen himself as fortunate and honoured to be a lieutenant of the glorious Aryan Socialist Union equally.

But now all Adolf Himmler wanted was to get out of Roanapur.

Anything to avoid the crazy goth bitch with the chainsaw. He and his squad had been attacking everyone they could before they had moved on, and as much as he hated the use of flamethrowers, even he could not deny how effective the weapons were. Already they had left a path of fiery destruction in their wake. He had been dubious about their use; the smell of burnt and cooked flesh as the flamethrowers spewed out their unyielding flames had made him sick to his stomach.

But while the ASU had never really cared about how excessive some weapons could be, there were just some weapons that were automatically scorned and flamethrowers were one of them. But their new leader didn't care about that. He believed that the best way to really send a message, or at least to bring down an enemy, was to be incredibly brutal and vicious.

Well, they had been.

The flamethrowers had managed to do what guns and bullets had failed to do quickly, stop a battle from really happening, and already the several units sent into this slum of a city had caused a path of destruction. Adolf, like many of the Nazis, did not know what the leaders' long-term plan with Roanapur was going to be, but in Adolfs' eyes, they were cleansing the city of the unclean. The smell of cooked flesh was just an unpleasant price to pay for their work. In time, if his ideas of the leader's plans for the city were correct, then it would be inhabited by those worthy of living. People like him.

But then the goth bitch had attacked.

The bitch had just come out of no-where, her chainsaw growling like a wild animal as she slashed through the men with the flamethrowers, taking them by surprise. She had cut them in half, and the hoses carrying the liquid chemicals from the tanks on their backs while cutting them to pieces. With the flamethrowers useless and out of action, Adolf and the rest of his men tried their best to fight back, but the bitch was too fast.

To Adolf's horror, the creepy goth psycho bitch was too fast. She also had no interest in the rules of war, as Adolf and the other Nazis believed in them. She also didn't care about using savagery to get what she wanted. She had swung her chainsaw while wearing that creepy grin on her face which made her look, frankly, doll-like, enjoying every minute of her work as she brutally sliced what remained of his men to pieces. The flamethrower squad he had was not that big; only about seven men to each unit, four men with guns, three with flamethrowers.

It had been Adolf's decision. He had been given the choice of having fourteen men with guns and flamethrowers, but he had wanted a squad where the majority of men were armed with machine-guns while the flamethrowers were the ones who did the dirty work and there would be few of them to take the glory away from him and his men since he believed only guns would make the ASU victorious today. It was a decision he was now beginning to regret.

The bitch ducked and rushed towards him and the two survivors who were left. It was around that point Adolf Himmler just wanted to leave Ronaapur. Leave it to the natives, let them wallow in their filth.

One of his men decided to take the initiative and he approached her with his weapon raised - Adolf had to admire the way the ASU had been reformed until nearly everyone in the organisation had been trained and hardened by the combat scenarios their leader had given them - ready to fire as she came at him, ducking and weaving to make it impossible to make an accurate hit though he did try, it was all for nothing when she simply drove the chainsaw through his body.

Adolf flinched back in horror at the high-pitched howl as the bitch revved the chainsaw up three times, each time that cursed thing cut up a bit more of the soldier's body, gouging into the flesh, the organs and the bones of the dying man… But Adolf could not move. He had never imagined seeing anything like this before during his glorious time in the Union, and so he was paralysed in fear and horror as he saw one of his own men dying of shock in front of him.

The woman then moved, still holding the chainsaw and making sure that his man, the third only sole survivor of this mess, was still on the chainsaw blade. The woman had problems moving while the soldiers' legs, flopping around in his last few moments of life which were trickling out of him fast while he gurgled from the blood-loss, but she managed to move the dying man's body as a human shield.

Neither Adolf or his fellow Nazi survivor knew what to do, but when the woman threw the corpse at them and they collapsed under the body's weight - why were dead bodies so heavy? - Adolf realised his mistake. Instead of just standing there, they should have just shot their fellow in the back - he was dead already, a few bullets in the back would not register, would it? - and hoped to god one of them at least would have injured or better still killed the mad bitch dead.

But as he struggled to get the body off him so he might be able to wriggle free with his last comrade, the bitchs' chainsaw revved up again, and Adolf was paralysed once more. She was right there, holding the chainsaw above him like it was Thor's hammer about to strike down his enemies. As he struggled to get his hand free - where was his gun? Oh yeah, there it was - the bitch swung the chainsaw at him.

As the teeth of the saw sliced their way through his head, Adolf Himmler only had a few seconds to realise his final mistake. Instead of getting his weapon ready, or kicking the body off of him and his fellow, he'd instead struggled to get free without bothering to get ready to fight. But Adolf Himmler's vision went black.

For the union, was his last thought.

* * *

As she slashed the chainsaw through the skulls of the two Nazis - the second was the hardest to do since the other was right next to him, and the few seconds gave him a bit more time, but she was able to kill him before he could shoot her - Sawyer looked down at the three corpses, ignoring the rest of the bodies scattered around her.

She had taken a break from experimenting with the Nazis who crossed her path. She had enjoyed the chance to experiment with a few tortures she had heard and read about when she was younger, though she had found a way to prolong the Blood Eagle torture a little bit so instead of just ripping out the lungs, she instead pulled out every organ out of the body before focusing on the lungs and the heart.

Sawyer was just disappointed the Nazis had made it so easy for her to hunt them down and kill them all. The flamethrowers had left burnt barbecued corpses in their wake, so all she'd done was follow one of the groups with the flamethrowers, and simply kill them. She was also disappointed with just how easy it had been to slaughter the lot.

Still, she was just glad to be out of the office. With her chainsaw still coated in the blood of the Nazis she'd killed which was dripping to the concrete, congealing, Sawyer turned and walked away, leaving a scene of cut up bodies in her wake, knowing when the bodies were found by someone they'd know it was her. But when she dumped the tortured victims she'd used for her experiments, hopefully, it would lead to more work.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer - I don't own Black Lagoon.

Happy Christmas.

* * *

War of the Fascists.

" _ **Oh, don't worry Ms Lee. I doubt my men have done anything to your weapons**." _

The voice went on, speaking in a Texas accent, "You see, my men were ordered to collect you and bring you to this freighter so then I could speak to you." It didn't take the trapped Lagoon Company long to discover where it was coming from. The television screen was on, showing a blank white screen that baffled the group, wondering what on earth was the point of hiding anymore now the fighting was going on.

" _ **Oh, you're puzzled you can't see me? Well, don't worry about it," the voice went along, "there's a chance you might survive this, and you would be free to come after me, so I took a few precautions. My accent is a bit of a giveaway, I grant you, but its still not enough for you to identify me out of millions of people**_."

Dutch looked down with a sigh, knowing he was right. There were too many people with that kind of accent, and it was too rich and deep for anyone to truly identify so then they could use their company's contacts to do something about this guy. "What do you want?" Dutch asked.

The man chuckled. " _ **I've wanted to meet you for a long time. Okay, maybe meet is not the right word. Unfortunately, I am simply too busy to be out there to meet you all, but I can tell you one thing; if I was there, I would have killed you by now. Instead, I ordered my men to capture you alive and bring you to the freighter**_."

"So you could chat to us?" Revy sneered.

" _ **In a way**_ ," the Nazi replied. " _ **I wanted to kill two birds with one stone**_."

"What's that meant to mean?" Dutch asked aggressively.

" _ **You'll find out in a bit**_ ," the Nazi said evenly, " _ **but for the moment I just wanted to speak to the people who have made all of this possible. Ratchman and Stanford were idiots. They didn't have a clue, not one fucking clue, about how to proceed. Their deaths have given me the opportunity to make the ASU what it should be. I'm grateful, so thank you so much for killing those two bores**_."

"Gratitude not accepted," Dutch snapped, visibly angry.

The Nazi laughed briefly for a moment. " _ **Fair enough**_ ," he said, his tone saying he wasn't bothered either way. " _ **I just thought I'd tell you. Anyway, how do you like how I've done up the Aryan Socialist Union**_?"

Revy couldn't help it. She snorted loudly and all attention in the room, including the camera, was turned on her so she could speak. "I've seen better fighters in a cockfight," she boasted.

The Nazi laughed again. "Y _ **es, I may have trained them up ever since the fight on the boat that was chartered out to recover the painting from the U-Boat, but some of them are still weak in a number of ways. In this case, I'm getting rid of the chaff and if any of them survive Roanapur, then great.**_ "

Rock had just about had enough. "Why are you doing all this?" he asked shortly.

" _ **Could you please be more specific**_?"

"Why did you have the freighter crew killed? Have all those pirate targets taken? This attack? Our kidnap?" Rock clarified, his voice becoming increasingly aggressive as he became more annoyed. Revy wasn't surprised by her new boyfriends' attitude, knowing he could easily lose it just as well as she could.

" _ **Ah**_ ," the Nazi interrupted before Rock could say anything else. " _ **Answering your first two points, the freighter and the targets contained cargoes we could put to good use; drugs are easy enough to sell if you've got the right connections, but weapons could become part of our armoury. I've had spies go out to Roanapur for months, and I've even bought a few people for information. Finding the right people to do it wasn't difficult**_."

None of the Lagoon company spoke, knowing the Nazi was right there. There were so many criminals in the city, smugglers and underlings of various gangs including the major ones like in Balalaika's mob and Changs' triads though the former wouldn't be easy since they were trained soldiers fanatically loyal to their boss, but it wasn't hard for them to imagine and picture one of the people they worked with selling information to somebody else.

Dutch fully planned on telling both Chang and Balalaika about what they'd just learnt to let them both know that someone was talking too much, but for now, he was prepared to listen to the Nazi. He was more curious about the implication he and his friends may not get out of here alive.

" _ **The attack is a little bit more straightforward**_ ," the Nazi went on, " _ **I** ** _'m_ performing some spring cleaning**_."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Revy asked.

" _ **When you and your black friend boarded the boat Ratchman had chartered out for the mission that bastard Alfred had given, you massacred a number of the Aryan Socialist Union. You also killed the leadership of the Union, who were the biggest thorns in my side. The ASU was not impressive; I've been a part of dozens of radical groups over the years, and they were a lot more proactive**_."

An understanding was starting to dawn for the Lagoon pirates when the Nazi leader said that, and now they knew why he was doing all of this.

"So, when you joined the ASU, it wasn't out of choice, but when you did you found that all they did all day was make grandiose speeches where they were going to do this and do that?" Benny asked.

Displeasure was in the Nazi leaders' voice now, making it clear Benny had hit a nerve. " _ **Ratchman and Stanford were idiots. They had various means open to them to cause problems. They could have spread anthrax or something into letters sent to various government officials, they could have bombed mosques or synagogues, they could have poisoned the water supplies, committed assassinations. Anything. They didn't. All they did instead was make grandiose promises they had no clue of how to fulfil. When Alfred hired the union to go after that painting, I was beginning to think I was going to leave the ASU. I was tired of it by that point, but I had installed a number of cameras on the boat to showcase the "glorious triumph" of recovering that stupid painting**_. _**As if some stupid painting was going to start and win a global war. Please!**_ "

"Why would you do that?" Revy asked in confusion. "If you weren't interested in the Nazis and what they were doing, why would you care about going to that much trouble?"

" _ **Politics**_ ," the Nazi leader said simply, and they could hear the smile in his voice as he said it, " _ **I had been trying and failing to impress Ratchman for a while, but when the painting job came around I saw an opportunity to gain his favour. I suggested placing the cameras around the ship to record every moment to make inspirational videos for future recruitment drives. Ratchman took it onboard, and he was pleased. But I also had other plans for the footage. There was always the possibility Ratchman and Stanford may have made a truly stupid mistake, I wanted to capture it. But** **Ratchman** **saw it as a means to an end for himself**_."

Dutch nodded as he began to understand. "Without knowing you were planning on using it to gain more power?"

" _ **Maybe, but Ratchman was rushed off of his feet trying to make the preparations. I just took advantage of it without any further consultation**_."

"So what happened then, Nazi?" Dutch asked.

" _ **After you killed Ratchman, I saw the footage. I heard everything Alfred said to you and to him, I saw how pitiful the so-called glorious Aryan Socialist Union really was. But the part I really enjoyed was seeing Stanford rant like one of those really bad super-villains to Ms Lee," the Nazi leader said. He laughed, "The moron was more interested in pitching that stupid gun of his, which I'd never actually seen used before, and what happens then? She shoots him in the chest without a thought. He had the perfect opportunity to kill her, he didn't take it**_."

Revy snorted, remembering the massive idiot as he'd burst through the door.

The Nazi leader went on, ignoring the snort, " _ **Do you really think I didn't use what happened as prime examples of how to train the remainder of the ASU? It's taken me the best part of a year to make sure everyone was trained in guerrilla warfare and the basics of combat, but how many of them are good?**_ "

Revy closed her eyes and snorted again. "So that's why you're doing all this? You're trying to find out who's good and who isn't?"

" _ **More or less. I'm not expecting miracles.**_ "

"But why are you doing all this anyway?" Benny asked. "I mean, Neo-Nazis have never done anything more dangerous than throwing bottles at rallies."

The Nazi leader was silent for a moment, and the Lagoon company thought that perhaps he'd cut the line. But a second later he began speaking once more. "I _ **said earlier I was part of a number of radical groups. The ASU and organisation like it were**_ _ **made out to be jokes last year by an old man who followed a fool who was one of a number of fools, so they were not much better. I had a choice, to make the ASU better and more radical, or just leave. But I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I've done my best.**_ "

The Lagoon company glanced at each other. After everything they'd seen so far, it looked as if the new Nazi leader of the Aryan socialist union had more than done his best.

"Why are you telling us all this? I mean, why are we here?" Rock asked.

"A _ **gain, politics. Many of the Union wanted to see you die despite my orders, and they've been difficult to control. Originally I just wanted you to be left alone; I might be a radical, but I know when to back off. But many of the old crowd still cling to those stupid grudges, going on about "making you atone with your blood," stuff like that. In the end, to cement my control, I realised I would have to kill you all, but some of those idiots would have tried to do it themselves.**_ "

He sounded unapologetic as though it wasn't worth his time. While the Lagoon crew did ask themselves why he was talking to them at all, and going to all of this trouble, none of them decided to ask questions. They doubted the Nazi leader would reply in the first place.

Instead, Dutch stepped closer to the TV, his muscles flexing like he wanted nothing more than to punch his fist through the camera and wrench the Nazi from wherever he was into the room they were in so they could all kill him.

"So, what now, you Nazi shit?" he growled. "What're you gonna do now?"

The Nazi leader's voice was bland as he said simply. " _ **There is a bomb underneath the floor of the room where you're in,**_ " he said, " _ **I've just set it off to go off in a few minutes."**_

* * *

What do you think?


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer - I don't own Black Lagoon. I just own this story.

Feedback would be nice - I am trying to do something different here.

* * *

War of the Fascists.

In the streets of the city, close to the harbour, a large cluster of Nazis was struggling to hold the line against the criminals who were firing indiscriminately at them.

Fires rose from destroyed or burning buildings up and down the street, and greasy black smoke filled the air, choking everyone who was still alive while those who were dead were the luckier ones while bullets were shot at random targets at half seen silhouettes and forms through the smoke and the hails of bullets as the Aryan Socialist Union struggled to maintain their grip on this shithole of a city.

The Nazis were doing their best to put up a very good fight, but it was clear even to a newbie who had just arrived at Roanapur for whatever desperate reason, out of desperation or because they had no-where else to go since they were being hunted from somewhere else, they were losing. Badly. The new leader of the Aryan Socialist Union had spent a whole year trying to get his organisation to wise up to the real world, and while many of the Nazis who had flourished under his reign were either those who were realistic enough to have seen and recognised Ratchman and Stanford genuinely did not know what they were doing so the organisation would have always remained fixed in time with nowhere else to go, or those fanatics who had joined the ASU because they had no-where else to go in other of those far right organisations back in the USA, only to be disappointed with what they found since while the ASU was trying to resemble the Nazis from Germany in the 1940s, they were a joke could see they were losing, they didn't want to let go of Roanapur while those cowards who'd joined out of fanaticism towards Hitler and his ideals had already left, only to be slaughtered by any of the marauding groups out there in the city who were going around and killing any Nazi they found without a care about whether or not they were trying to save their own necks or not.

But even those fanatics were not immune to logic or to reality.

The Aryan Socialist Union forces attacking Roanapur were drawing back from the fierce fighting they were having to endure from the various gangs and individual criminals who had no particular affiliation to anyone higher up on the food chain. On a good day many of those same criminals and assassins like Sawyer the Cleaner and Shenhua wouldn't have batted an eyelid for anyone who had a lot of power in the city and held influence over the status quo - usually they wouldn't have even cared if one of them died as someone new took their place. To them they would have simply taken advantage to get fresh work from the newbie and life would have gone on while they kept their head down.

It was typically the law of hive of scum and villainy in Roanapur; if you were to survive, keep to the shadows while offering skills to someone powerful for both protection and anonymity.

The Nazi attack on Roanapur had changed that.

Now everybody was fighting alongside one another. Criminal nonchalance vs Nazi arrogance and ignorance. The criminals in Roanapur didn't care about stupid rules where you didn't shoot anyone in the back since they believed the back and the front, what was the difference? Plus, having Nazis around was bad for business, or good, depending on your point of view since it gave those gangs and pirates who were hungry for an excuse to fight but they had been cowed by Chang and Balalaika and the other more powerful bosses since they did more to preserve the peace than most people thought, though only because a gang war was usually considered bad for business even if it shook the city up, and allowed someone else to get hold of a resource.

It wouldn't last, of course. Soon the status quo of the city would be returned to normal and the gangs would go back to their cold war.

However, in the meantime, they had Nazis to kill.

In a side street, not far from the harbour, a group of Nazis were desperately trying to escape the carnage that was going on all around them. There were only four of them and they weren't lead by anyone of higher rank, though truthfully at that point the group probably would not really care if someone ordered them around or not.

When they had been selected for the mission to Roanapur, they had been excited even if they'd had misgivings. Roanapur had an unsavoury reputation as it was, full of freaks and murderers, but they'd been forced to go with the flow. This group of Nazis were only a few examples of a small minority who had a bit more realism than the average member of their organisation. In comparison the majority were so far up the Aryan backside and believed in their own superiority they were blind to what existed in Roanapur. Now the group were trying to escape. The whole mission had been a shambles because their fellows had either underestimated their enemies or because they were painfully ignorant of the real world.

Now the four Nazis were struggling to escape. They had collectively decided to just leave and forget about the Aryan Socialist Union. There was no way their new leader would let them come back. He had only been in charge for a year now, but he had quickly made it clear to everyone he did not take failure, or betrayal, lightly. Unlike Ratchman and Stanford, he didn't completely follow Nazi philosophy, but he was ingenious and dangerous.

The group had no intention of laying eyes on him again.

Unfortunately, they were so concerned with escape they failed to notice Sawyer before she attacked them. They only realised she was there when she revved up her chainsaw...

* * *

"Son a bitch!" Revy screamed in rage when the Nazi's new leader made his little announcement about the bomb underneath the floor, but before she could completely fly off the handle Rock was immediately there and he wrapped his arms around her, and gently kissed her temple.

"Now is not the time, Revy," he whispered gently, waiting for her to calm down. "We need to get out of here."

Inwardly smiling at his two friends, particularly since Revy was beginning to calm down, but taking this whole mess too seriously Dutch studied the floor of the room they were in. The problem was the thin cheap carpeting looked like it had recently been fitted to the floor, so it was hard for him to tell if there really was a bomb underneath the floor. Although he hated to admit it to himself Dutch had to admit this latest sick Nazi fuck had some brains in his head.

Meanwhile, Benny was examining the door before he planted his ear on it. "I think there's someone out there," he whispered, "I can hear footsteps and breathing."

Still in Rocks' arms, Revy scowled. "Sounds like the bastards don't know about any bomb under the floor," she commented.

A quick idea flashed through Rock's mind of persuading the Nazis outside there was a bomb on the ship and that their leader planned to kill them all without a thought but he discounted it immediately. "Is there any way of getting through that door?" he asked instead.

Benny was already checking the lock. "Fuck, it looks like there's a key in the lock."

Rock looked at the door and his eyes fixed on the grille set into it. "Benny," he said, reaching inside his pocket. "Do you think if you had the right tool you can open that grille, you can unlock the door?"

Benny shifted around, grunting painfully as he tried to shift his weight around the uncomfortable posture he was locked in, to face his friend. His brow was crinkled in a puzzled frown. "Sure, why?" he asked.

Revy looked at her new boyfriend and saw him take out of his pocket a swiss-army knife. She gaped at him. "Where the fuck did you get that?" she demanded.

Rock spared her a crooked, lop-sided grin. "I've had it for a while," he admitted while he passed the tool over to Benny who quickly checked each of the tools to see if there was anything there he could use to remove the screws.

Revy snorted and rolled her eyes, and she used her hand to gently touch Rock's cheek. The former Japanese businessman looked at her…. then she slapped him over the head. "That's for not telling me!" she snarled at him while he winced in surprise at the blow, though truthfully she wasn't sure why she was lashing out at him. Very quickly she leaned forward and kissed him while Benny and Dutch quickly averted their eyes, deciding it wasn't worth getting into a fight with the volatile Revy. Instead, they worked on the grille. It didn't take them long to get it off. Benny stuck his head out through the hole to see if there was anybody there to stop them escape, but fortunately, there was no-one in sight on either end of the corridor.

Twisting around as best as he could, Benny reached an arm upwards so he could turn the key in the lock. The hole was narrow as it was, so Benny had to take everything slowly.

"Stay calm, Benny boy," the Lagoon company techno-geek told himself, "remember you've gotten through things much tighter than this." He chuckled at the pun.

And he had. Benny remembered all of those games he had played as a kid and then later as a teenager, learning some basic contortionist techniques when he became bored with computer work in order to expand his IQ. It had been a long time since he had played such games, but while he had grown older in age, mind, and body, he still remembered that the trick to this was to keep calm and to be sure of where his body was while he twisted himself.

It occurred to him while he did this Revy might have been the better choice, or Rock, since the pair of them were much leaner in terms of physique compared to Dutch, who was too big for this type of work, but it didn't matter since Benny was built along the same lines.

At last! Benny grinned as his fingers had managed to turn the lock, but the smile faded when he spotted a Nazi appear down the corridor.

Benny didn't even stop to show any surprise, he just quickly slipped back through the hole. But he did it too fast and he cut himself on the metal of the square hole. Wincing in pain and cursing himself for being too quick, Benny managed to manipulate himself out of it while the Nazi quickly recovered from seeing the shocking sight of seeing one of the prisoners taken from Roanapur sticking his head and arm out of the door to turn the key.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" the Nazi shouted, clumsily reaching for his weapon, but it was too late.

Revy rushed out of the room the moment the door was opened, and she didn't give a damn if there were more Nazis nearby. The Nazi barely had time to react before Revy broke his neck. The infamous "Two-Hands" was not in the mood for a drawn-out fight, so she'd decided to get it over with. The Nazi had barely dropped to the ground before she grabbed his gun.

By the time the rest of the Lagoon company left the room, she was down the corridor looking both ways before she glared back at them.

"What the fuck are you guys waiting for?!" she snapped at them. "Let's get outta here!"

As they hurried down the corridor towards her, Dutch glanced at Rock out of the corner of his eye. "You ready for her?" he asked quietly, hoping Revy did not hear him.

Rock glanced at him. "I think so," he replied.

"I'm happy for yer, really I am," Dutch said quickly, hoping Rock didn't take offence. "Just be careful with her, though I don't think I need to tell you that. Don't hurt her, Rock. Ever."

Rock picked up on the latent threat and glanced at his friend as they ran through the corridors of the freighter. He knew how protective Dutch was as a friend and as a boss, and it didn't really come too much as a surprise he was warning him from hurting Revy, not that he ever would.

* * *

Safe in his office in his regular job in the US of A, the Aryan Socialist Union leader leaned back in his chair while he drank some fresh coffee provided to him by his secretary. He glanced at his wall clock to see how long he had before he had to go to the meeting that had been arranged for today, and he saw he had over an hour and a half to go. He felt grateful because it gave him the opportunity to actually think about his current plans. There was no doubt in his mind the Lagoon company would escape just like there was no way those idiots who'd attacked Roanapur would live to see another day unless of course, they had the common sense to see they'd lost.

He didn't care about the Lagoon company. They were small fry and they were based in Roanapur, they wouldn't come after him. They wouldn't know where to begin and besides, he doubted they'd have anything to gain by coming after him. They could have tried to track down Lord Alfred, but they hadn't bothered. If he was wrong, then he was wrong, and then he would need to form a new plan to get rid of them. They had only been a blip on his radar when he'd set up this little scheme.

As he took a sip of coffee from his cup, he thought about the casualties he'd heard about since his men had arrived in Roanapur.

He wasn't surprised they were now trying to escape as a result from the ingenious and rather graphic ways the criminals had for dealing with enemies who made the mistake of wandering around onto their patch. Still, in the long run, it wouldn't be a problem. Sure, he'd lose quite a few people but he didn't care about that since most of those who were dead were the ones who deserved it. The rest would have experienced fighting genuinely for the first time and would have put whatever skills they'd learnt to the test. After all, the old cliche "whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" applied here and now.

Those who didn't pull their weight and believed in so-called Aryan superiority…. well, he wouldn't miss them. If some of them survived then he would not care or bat an eyelid at them. A few more missions like the one in Roanapur would either harden them and make them see life as it was in reality instead of seeing the world through swastika shaped rose-tinted glasses that made them think they were superior since they wore SS-style uniforms (he was tempted to change the design which wouldn't make the Aryan Socialist Union look like a bunch of copycats), without those idiotic parades and recitations of that anthem which didn't do much, though it served its purpose to inspire the whole lot of them to do their mission even if it gave him a headache to listen to it.

* * *

Revy hated the guns in her hands even if she had a proficiency with many kinds of weapon. Shortly after they'd left that room and she'd gotten hold of a gun, she had found a pair of Nazis in a nearby corridor, and she had killed them both. She had gotten another pistol from one of the skinheads while Dutch had gotten the other's machine gun. Revy didn't know about how Dutch felt about using a weapon different from his trusty pump-action shotgun forcing him to rely on a different weapon, but right now she couldn't say she cared.

The came across two more Nazis, and she fired on them, but the gun in her right hand clicked empty, so Dutch had to shoot the bastard instead just as she'd lined him up in the sights. Yep. She hated her borrowed guns, she thought to herself as she scowled and reloaded the gun. She was running out of clips for both of the fucking things which only worsened her mood. They felt odd in her hands even if she was okay using shotguns, machine guns, grenade launchers, or even knives like Chinglish used. They didn't sound right either and they felt heavy to hold. To make matters even worse they were two completely different types, so she felt kind of unbalanced in her hands. Awkward. She hadn't expected the problem when she had taken them from the Nazis she had met and killed, nor had it had been on her mind.

But now she was regretting her decision to use two guns in order to give these skinheads a taste of "Two-Hands."

As she and her buddies (and her new boyfriend) ran through the corridors of the freighter to get out of here, Revy found herself facing a problem she hadn't had with handguns in a long time.

It had been a long time since she had held a pair of guns and didn't keep in mind how many bullets she had actually used before the magazine became empty. Oh, she knew the capacity of the magazines in the guns, of course, but she had become so used to her own custom made weapons that she knew just how many shells were being fired and how many she had left thanks to hours and hours of practice and training.

That was one of the downsides to it, really. In her mind, the guns that she'd gotten custom made for her were designed to act as an extension of her own body. But these weapons…. As a kid, she had learnt quickly to be sparing with her shots and so she began testing herself, practicing so then she mentally kept count of how many bullets she fired, and she was mentally trying to do the same here now. She knew the make and the model of the guns in her hands, sure, but she had become so used to being able to deftly fire and reload her guns when she mentally counted how many shots she'd fired, and they were a joy to use.

More than once Revy had fired her new guns and the hammers had clicked empty, and she was forced to pull back - she hadn't experienced anything like this for a long time. Revy had trained herself to keep count of the shells she used for all weapons she had used, but unfortunately, she didn't have time to try to keep count now. All she could do was to keep check of how many times she actually shot the guns and keep check of her supply of clips.

"I'd better get my guns back," she mentally growled to herself, squeezing the guns in her hands and resisting the urge to throw them away, "or else I'm gonna go mad."

Another group of Nazis appeared from both directions blocking their way to the upper deck while the other group blocked off their escape.

Dutch, knowing Revy was having troubles of her own, simply raised his machine gun and fired on the Nazis covering the way out while he took the ones behind.

The sound of the machine gun made Revy grind her teeth as she fired her borrowed guns at the Nazis in front of her, using her training and years of experience to pick one Nazi off and then the other before she made a breakneck rush towards the two survivors and she leapt into the air, thanking her lucky stars though she would never even admit she had them to anybody she practiced these moves every chance she had. While the Nazis were gaping at her like those losers she'd encountered when she and Rock had travelled to Japan to help Balalaika and she'd helped slaughter that bunch of losers in that bowling alley, but on this occasion the weight of the guns in her hands nearly made her drop them but she gripped them tighter as she fired on them.

Revy landed and lifted herself with the grace of a cat as they kept moving upwards. She glanced behind to see if there were anymore behind them, and she nearly stopped when she saw Rock pick up a handgun. But she forced herself to keep moving while she tried to push the knowledge Rock was now comfortable with firearms out of her mind, but it was nearly impossible.

Revy still wasn't sure how she should feel about Rock being comfortable with holding a gun now, but there was nothing she could do about it.

For so long, even if it was just a year or so, Revy had worked long and hard to keep Rock away from that, but it hadn't worked.

She guessed it probably never would have done, and that hurt her more than she would have cared to have admitted to herself. And yet, truthfully, now she and Rock had cleared the air a bit, she could honestly say that a part of her was now relieved Rock was finally trying to help them whenever it came to gunfights instead of leaving it all to her and Dutch, but until she had the chance to properly think through things, she would probably remain uncomfortable.

Pushing that aside, for now, Revy ran with her friends towards the deck of the ship.

As they came out of the stairway into the open air, they came across another group of Nazis. Revy held back the urge to snarl at them. She might like a good fight, but she also preferred a few breaks here and there. Was that too much to ask for?

Lifting up her borrowed weapons after readying herself, Revy opened fire on them, mentally keeping check of the guns magazine capacity in mind as she fired at them. Dutch followed suit and she shot him a brief glare to taking down more of the Nazis than she had, but she pushed that aside as they ran up the stairs.

Spotting two more Nazis on the deck who were rushing towards the stairway entrance where they were coming out, Revy lifted up her guns and took aim and shot them both a couple of times before she looked around for any more sign of others.

Revy was just looking towards the superstructure of the ship when the ship shook with an explosion. Black smoke started to rise from the side of the ship and Revy just knew it was coming from that cabin they'd escaped from. She pushed it aside to focus on getting off this fucking freighter. They had no idea how long they had on this ship before someone else found them.

It was Rock who found a way out. "There are a few boats over here," he called.

The Lagoon company rushed down the stairs towards one of the boats. Dutch was the last one into the boat and he yanked on the mooring rope while Benny rushed to the steering wheel and the engine controls while on the deck of the freighter that towered above them, a group of Nazis fired on them, but they didn't manage to get that many shots off before Dutch floored the engine and the boat sped away from the ship. The boat was a typical speedboat which would be enough to get them back to the city.

Dropping her borrowed guns on one of the seats, Revy let her eyes scan the city as Dutch and Benny worked to guide the speedboat back to the dock where the Lagoon company worked from. Here and there along the skyline of the shithole that was Roanapur were plumes of smoke were rising from the city, and she could hear the sound of gunfire from the city, but it didn't sound as strong as it had before. She didn't know if that meant everyone in the city had managed to drive the Nazis out and were simply killing off the survivors.

Movement appeared out of the corner of her eyes, and Revy turned and found herself looking at Rock. He was offering her a tentative and shy smile, and she smiled back.

* * *

Until the next time... which is the final chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer - I don't own Black Lagoon.

This chapter, unlike the others, is rated M for a good reason. My apologies if it offends you.

Please leave feedback since this is the last chapter.

* * *

War of the Fascists.

Revy woke up slowly, realising as she did she was naked and in the arms next to a warm body. A male body, but she remembered quickly she had slept with Rock. Snuggling into his side, Revy smiled contentedly as she remembered the first time she and Rock had made love. It was rare Revy had sex at the best of times; the memory and the trauma of how she'd been abused as a child had put her largely off of sex ever since.

That didn't mean she didn't occasionally indulge in it though. She did, she just didn't have it all the time. Contrary to what those said about her, basing their assumptions on her outfit, Revy was not some whore. She only wore her outfit because she wanted freedom of movement and she didn't want to be sweating to death in this slum. Besides, she had learnt not to take the insults of "whore" and "slut" seriously because they were just insults in her mind, and she didn't pay them much attention.

At first, Revy had wondered what being like with Rock would be like for her. He was a very attentive lover, and unlike many of her other partners and those bastards in New York who'd used her like a fucking toy, he was incredibly gentle with her. Oh, he wasn't a coward who was afraid she'd break if he went too fast, but she could see in his eyes that he would only go fast if she wanted him too.

It hadn't taken Revy long but she had come to realise as she and Rock were having sex that Rock must have deduced enough about her life and her past to know what not to do with her. Revy hated being so transparent but she didn't see anything she could do about it.

Although she hated to do it, Revy lifted herself up - wincing when she heard the man she loved groan in his sleep. She cursed when she realised it was still dark outside, but she lifted her torso upwards and adjusted her legs so she'd be more comfortable and she peered out through the windows.

Rock usually left the windows of his apartment open a touch to let in some air, so there was a cool, gentle breeze wafting through the window. As she sat up she looked out over the vista of what she could see of the city.

When the Lagoon company had returned to Roanapur after getting off of that freighter, they had immediately rejoined the fray and added their own firepower to fight off the remaining Nazis. The skinheads were arrogant and full of themselves, but even they weren't stupid enough to believe they were instantly going to win.

Stories about the fighting from the various districts of the city came to the Lagoon company; the word was Chinglish and Sawyer the Cleaner had carved a path of gore and murder through the Nazis, and that Sawyer even had a few of the survivors in her workplace, though God knew if that rumour was true. Revy was willing to bet it was since it was well known on the grapevine Sawyer liked to experiment with various and very very gruesome tortures. The hard part was finding the right people who were expendable enough to fill out the job. The Nazis would fill that role wonderfully.

Hotel Moscow was still standing which didn't surprise Revy or anybody else that much seeing as the Russian mafia that made up that particular gang in the city were trained and former professional soldiers, and no matter if some Nazi shithead took the time to quickly train a load of other skinheads on how to properly fight instead of trying to load an unnecessarily big machine gun or rant and rave about some gun that had a stylish paint job they were simply no match for Balalaika or her men. Hotel Moscow did not observe the boundaries when it came to fighting, that was one of the reasons why they had managed to carve out a large chunk of the city, making it clear to their enemies they wouldn't tolerate anyone trying to break into what they had.

The Triads were also standing, but that was a given since Chang was just as tenacious as Balalaika, if not more brutal. Besides, it wasn't as if neither Chang nor Balalaika hadn't expected the attack.

Chang may not have been a former soldier, but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.

Revy sighed as she became lost in her memories. After getting their weapons, she and the rest of the Lagoon company (all except Benny, that is since he still refused to fight) had gone out and started killing as many of the Nazis as they could. The first thing they'd done was cut off the retreat of a small group of Nazis and they had joined in with a group of one of their pirate rivals. Their unspoken truce was broken now, but with their combined firepower hey had made short work of the Nazis. It helped that the Lagoon company had surprised the Nazis before they could escape.

It seemed that the Nazis had been hoping to use some of the boats the different pirate crews used to get away from the carnage. When the Nazis had landed on Roanapur the boats they had used had apparently left and returned to the freighter which was how they'd managed to get into Roanapur at night.

Rock had asked aloud if their new boss had deliberately ordered their boats to just dump them in the harbour and then go back to the freighter and wait and see if any of the survivors made it back either by theft or simply by swimming out quite a distance as a kind of sick test which went hand in hand with the other things the sick bastard had done so far.

It made little difference since the Nazis had made a big mistake. When the pirates realised what the Nazis were trying to do, they instantly went out to get their boats back but like everyone else, Revy was surprised by the unexpected outcome, though she guessed it made sense they couldn't get them all.

Some of the Nazis had apparently learnt their lesson in coming to Roanapur, but then a whole day of seeing their buddies be shot up, run over, pulverized, or cut up with either a pair of large knives like the ones Chinglish used or having chainsaws shoved into their faces straight out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre would make them grow a pair of balls each. While the pirates had managed to kill some of the Nazis, some of the surviving members of the union had turned the tables on the pirates with the weapons on each boat. It wasn't as if they were hard to find since many of the pirate boats would need guns at a moments notice.

So, in the end only a few of the boats managed to escape with some of the Nazis on them and they had travelled quickly to freighter where they would be out of range of the guns and safe from any more of the residents of Roanapur though it was possible some of the survivors from the union had tried to escape on foot, though Revy didn't fancy their chances of getting out of the city alive since she was sure Chang or at least one of the minor gang lords, pissed off because of the attack on the city and their own businesses would make short work out of the survivors.

Personally, Revy didn't really care, nor did she really give a damn what happened to the Aryan Socialist Union, though she had to admit their new boss' tactic of taking away their only means of escape to see if they'd fight or die was neat and cold.

Rock said something she could not understand, and she smiled in the dark. Turning away from the glass and the sight of Roanapur, Revy snuggled back into his arms and he immediately wrapped his arms around her torso again.

"I love you Rock," Revy whispered as she hugged the former Japanese businessman gently.

When Revy woke up again in the morning, she snorted with laughter when she saw Rock was still asleep. For a few minutes, she watched as he slept while the light outside the window of the room they were in gradually grew brighter.

As she watched him sleeping peacefully, Revy had an idea of how to wake him up.

With a smirk, she found his cock. Using her fingers to gently rub the soft skin, Revy listened as she heard her lover while she used the fingers on her free hand to rub her cunt.

When he was fully erect and moaning softly, Revy got on top of Rock and straddled him before she came crashing down on him. Revy closed her eyes as the pleasure washed through her system, and she lifted herself up and repeated the movement again and again. She felt Rock's hands on her hips and she opened her eyes and saw him looking up at her with lusty exhaustion.

"Morning Rock," she tried to say, but she moaned it instead.

Rock didn't reply. Instead, he just thrust his hips into her, again and again.

Revy responded by bucking her own hips, and the double movement made her pant breathlessly.

When Revy had been younger, she had been disappointed when she had seen the first Terminator movie. From an action point of view, the movie had been flawless, but when you watched the sex scene between Sarah Connor and Reese, you were left fucking disappointed.

Revy had always wanted to re-enact the same scene, but only with the right guy. Rock was that guy and she loved him with all her heart.

Revy groaned. "Fuck me, Rock," she moaned quietly while she tried to contain her energy, her eyes becoming hazy through pleasure.

Rock gaped in awe at the sweating, sexy body on top of him. With a growl, he rolled Revy underneath him, not stopping as he thrust in and out of her...

* * *

An hour later, following another round of sex in the shower, Rock watched as Revy got dressed before he switched on the TV.

Rock had been in a good mood thanks to Revy's ministrations, but the moment he saw what was on the news, he lost his good mood. He felt Revy come up behind him and he felt her own grim mood encapsulate her earlier good mood.

On the screen was a classic picture of New Times Square in New York City, showing buildings on fire, cars smouldering through sheer heat, blacked with smoke and fire. All around police were trying to keep the crowd at bay while firefighters worked to put out the flames and paramedics were either bending down over injured people that were covered deliberately so the image would not be shown worldwide or were lifting up the bodies and taking them to the nearby parked ambulances.

"... reports are coming in now of scenes all across the country of similar attacks, with printed leaflets calling out about the right organisation, the Aryan Socialist Union being responsible."

The scene changed, this time showing two men armed with machine guns, shooting at a number of black students at a school.

The scene changed again, this one showing a home camera footage of a man wearing a black ski mask on his face while he proudly wore the Nazi-style uniform of the Aryan Socialist Union, the armband proudly displayed for the viewing public, while he fired a bazooka at a mosque.

"Jesus," Rock whispered.

It was all he could say.

* * *

See you later until my next Black Lagoon story..


End file.
